Haulier cleared of drug charge
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III Stockport haulier Anthony Cleary has been cleared of smuggling cocaine worth Lim concealed in a semi-trailer.
Cleary of Prestbury Drive, Bredbury, Stockport, a partner in C&B Trucking, denied smuggling the drug into this country.
Prosecuting, Martin Steiger QC told the jury at Manchester Crown Court that in April Cleary had been to Switzerland and was bringing back a load of chemicals. He disembarked from a ferry at Dover and Customs officers searched his vehicle. He told Customs that he had operated the tractor and trailer for only a short time.
Customs officers then noticed a rear storage locker on the locked trailer which Cleary claimed that he had not previously noticed. When it was broken into, it contained a holdall with the cocaine inside.
Denying that he knew there was cocaine in the compartment, Cleary said that he had not been responsible for loading the trailer.
He believed that he had been used as an unwitting courier.
For Cleary, Stuart Neale said that he was a man of high character and background. Customs officers who had interviewed him presumed that he was guilty with no proof of guilt, he said.