Haulier said to be part of drug gang
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Five Kent men, including the owner of a haulage company, have gone on trial accused of smuggling more than half a tonne of cannabis worth E2m into the UK.
Customs officers used a fork-lift truck to reveal blocks of cannabis resin hidden in specially constructed compartments of a reefer trailer that had been used to Import melons from Spain.
The five, Carl Harrell from Maidstone, Paul Furmage from Rainham, David Huff from Old Romney and Michael Prowse and Gary Price, both from Ashford, all deny the smuggling charges.
Canterbury Crown Court heard that in May last year Harrell drove to Spain in a tractive unit pulling an empty trailer that had been leased to Furmage's company Premier International Haulage. Once there he contacted an unnamed freight company that sent him to Malaga where he loaded the melons.
The prosecution alleges that at about the same time Furmage and Price flew to Spain and the cannabis was loaded into the specially prepared trailer. Once the trailer entered the country at Dover, Customs officers put it under surveillance.
From Dover it was taken to the Nil Desperandum truck park in Kent; the melons were unloaded, and eventually it was moved to a business centre off the Thames Road in East London.
"The Crown says this was to unload and dispose of the goods but something happened to disturb those involved and the plan was changed," said Martin Griffith, prosecuting.
Again the trailer was moved, back to another site in Kent via two other sites. After several aborted attempts to collect the drugs, both Huff and Prowse were finally arrested as they approached the consignment. The rest of the gang was arrested later.
The trial continues.