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Haulage director gets sent down for drug smuggling
Page 14
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By Chris Tindatl
A HAULAGE BOSS has been jailed for more than four years after attempting to smuggle E6m worth of drugs into the country via Harwich port using a decoy vehicle.
David Walker, who runs Davitrans International, was stopped by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officers as he arrived on a RO-RO ferry from Holland with a truck full of cannabis and amphetamines.
Documentation described the load as carrots, but there were also tins of tomatoes, peas, office furniture and three secure lockers inside. Officers found the drugs inside the lockers.
Before the search. HMRC officers swooped on another vehicle driven by an associate of Walker holding documents similar to Walker's. No illegal goods were found and the driver was later released without charge. Officers described this as a "deliberate and futile attemptto use a decoy in order to distract them from the drugladen lorry. The 56-year-old company director had lived in Holland for 18 years and was running his newly formed business with two trucks and two trailers.
John Kay, HMRC head of investigation in Ipswich, says: "The sentence handed down will serve as a deterrent to those contemplating this serious form of criminality and shows that crime doesn't pay."