Gatwick drug smugglers jailed
11.03.08
Three women from Cardiff have been jailed after they were caught smuggling around £300,000 of cocaine into the UK from Africa, a court has heard. The drugs were discovered in their suitcases after they were stopped by customs officers at Gatwick Airport.
Rebecca Thomas, 25, was jailed for ten years, Delisha Georges, 20, was given four years and her sister Narzel Georges, 23, five years. The three pleaded guilty to smuggling the drugs at Croydon Crown Court.
Prosecuting, Alexander Mills said the trio, all of whom live in the Grangetown area of Cardiff, arrived back in the UK on September 7 after ten days in Freetown, Sierra Leone. They were stopped in the 'nothing to declare' channel by customs officers who thought their cases seemed heavy, and a field test revealed hints of cocaine in all of them. A further search brought to light the drugs, weighing six kilos at 100% purity, wrapped in packages and hidden in false compartments.
Mr Mills said: ‘When interviewed, Thomas said she and the sisters had been asked by a man named Rowlands to collect diamonds in Sierra Leone and they would get £3000. They were taken to a hotel where they stayed for 10 days. A man called Alpha brought them 3 new suitcases and their left their own in the hotel.’
The judge, Recorder Richard Merz, said: ‘Your situations are tragic for you and your families, but if the drugs had found their way on to the market, there would also have been tragic consequences for the consumers.’
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