Lorry driver jailed for cannabis smuggling
08:55, 21 June 2012
A lorry driver's behind bars today after trying to import 339kg of cannabis through Dover in boxes of frozen chips.
Nigel Donnelly, 44, of Northern Ireland, was jailed for three years at Maidstone Crown Court after being found guilty of attempting to bring in the drugs, with a street value of £1.1m.
Donnelly was stopped at the inbound freight controls by UK Border Agency officers on February 17 2010.
Officers scanned the lorry and found 48 boxes of the frozen chips contained both chips and cannabis.
Donnelly had denied the smuggling charge but was found guilty by a jury at Maidstone.
Malcolm Bragg from Border Force said: "Our officers are on constant alert to keep illegal drugs and other banned substances out of the UK, and take them out of the supply chain before they reach the streets.
"Drug use destroys not only the lives of individual users, but also their families and the wider community."
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