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A BRITISH truck driver duped into carrying £1.2m worth of
Page 8
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cannabis in his truck will have to return to prison after a Spanish judge ignored the UK's Crown Prosecution Service assurance that he's innocent.
Steven Toplass was sentenced to three-and-a-half years and fined €600,000 after400kg of cannabis was found in his truck. He was released last month to act as a witness for the National Criminal Investigation Squad against a drug gang.
Toplass had hoped that a letter from the CPS confirming that there was no evidence linking him to the plot would guarantee his freedom hut the Spanish judge decided that the CPS-headed paper might not be genuine and rejected his appeal (CM 28 April).
StephenJakobi,thedirectorofFair Trials Abroad, says this rnse high lights the danger that truck drivers are open to exploitation by smugglers as innocent drug 'mules': "We don't think [the government] has done enough to secure Steven's release when they know he is innocent and the Spanish authorities have paid no attention toils evidence."