Driver not guilty of smuggling drugs worth £180,000
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• A West Midlands driver was cleared of attempting to smuggle drugs with a street value of more than £180,000 when he appeared at Maidstone Crown Court earlier this week (8 December). Albert Trenfield of Finchley Road, Kingstanding, West Midlands, was arrested after two bags containing 66.7kg of cannabis were discovered in the Chambers & Cook trailer he was hauling back to the UK from Belgium. The court heard that Trenfield had diverted away from the Channel Tunnel. Martin Griffith, prosecuting, had alleged that Trenfield switched to a ferry at Calais and entered the UK through Dover to avoid detection. When he was stopped by Customs officers on 19 October last year, sniffer dogs were sent into the trailer where the drugs were found. Trenfield, 47, said he had stopped at a service station after collecting his return load from a depot near Brussels. He said he diverted from the tunnel to a ferry because there was a truck wash at Dover he wanted to use.
The prosecution had alleged that an eight-minute stop shown on Trenfield's tachograph would have been an ideal time to slip in the bag containing the drugs.
Trenfield told a Customs officer at Dover that he had loaded his consignment of Caterpillar parts himself and the lorry was only left unattended when he was asleep.
When asked about the two bags on the trailer containing the drugs he replied: "They ore not mine—I know nothing about them."