Drugs crimes net 124 years I :va l eiratna l kliann g "
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• by Charles Young Eleven men were jailed for a total of 124 years last week for smuggling 116m worth of drugs through Dover in the back of a truck.
Transport company boss Andrew Howard received 20 years; his stepuncle Kevin Howard, who had built up a fleet of more than 12 taxis on the proceeds of the crime, was sentenced to 22 years. Driver Jeffrey Garforth was jailed for 16 years.
A judge at Maidstone Crown told them: When drug importations are on the scale of this particular one the misery, addiction and proliferation of crime that results from hapless purchasers requires that such conspiracies are dealt with severely."
During the four-month trial the court heard that two consignments of drugs were seized at Dover within a three-month period. About seven months before the first consignment arrived in November 1997, Derek Holness, driver Jeffrey Garforth and Kevin Howard were caught by Dover Customs officers with a box containing more than 8300,000, which was almost certainly payment for drugs.
Garforth claimed he was forced to smuggle more than 89m worth of drugs on 19 December 1997 because he had lost the cash. The second consignment, a cocktail of drugs valued at more than 87m, was discovered on 24 February last year.
Garforth told the court that Andrew Howard, boss of Thanetbased RKD, had threatened him and his family to force him to smuggle the drugs.
All 11 defendants had denied conspiracy to smuggle drugs but were convicted on unanimous verdicts. • The International Road Transport Union (IRU) has criticised an Italian firm for prohibiting IIGYs from overtaking slower vehicles on a 200km section of motorway.
Brenner, the company which owns the Spa Autostrada del Brenner°, says the ban has been introduced purely as a safety measure.
The illU has written to the Brenner president claiming the decision to ban overtaking goes against the provisions of Article 5 of the Italian road code. According to the IRU it will slow down traffic, thus increasing the risk of accidents.
Prohibiting overtaking only improves road safety when bans are limited to shorter sections of motorway, the IRU warns.