AMSTERDAM: Angelo Javier Raaijmakers was stopped by officers after the lorry he was driving arrived in the North Shields port on a ferry from Ijmuiden, Holland
A Dutch drug courier was snared trying to smuggle £7m worth of cannabis into the UK through the Port of Tyne.
Angelo Javier Raaijmakers, 36, was stopped by Border Force officers after the Dutch-registered lorry he was driving arrived in the North Shields port on a ferry from Ijmuiden, Holland.
When officers searched the trailer of the vehicle, they discovered packages of the drug hidden inside pallets underneath layers of bark chippings.
In total, officers found a whopping 1.2 tonnes of cannabis inside the lorry with an estimated street value of a between £6.5m and £7.5m.
Once the drugs were recovered, Raaijmakers was handed to the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) Border Policing Command and charged with attempting to import a class B drug.
Now, the lorry driver is facing five years and three months behind bars after being jailed at Newcastle Crown Court on Thursday.
Tony McMullin, director of Border Force North, said: “We welcome this sentencing which should send a strong message to the criminals who think they can smuggle drugs into the United Kingdom.
“Border Force officers are on the front line to stop illegal drugs making it onto our streets and causing harm to our communities.
As this case demonstrates, we are working with law enforcement colleagues in the NCA to disrupt drug smugglers and put those responsible behind bars.”
Mick Maloney, head of the NCA’s North East border investigation team, said: “This was a significant seizure, and we have brought to justice a man involved in a major attempt to smuggle illegal drugs worth many millions of pounds into the UK.
