by Pat Hagan • Home Secretary Michael Howard has been
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asked to help truck drivers who are tricked into drugs smuggling.
Cleveland and Richmond MEP David Bowe has written to Howard to alert him to the large numbers of drivers being duped by drugs gangs.
The MEP acted after reading about his Middlesbroughbased constituent, David Ritchie, who spent 11 months on remand in Maidstone prison, charged with importing cannabis from Italy. Ritchie was acquitted in October and has been advised he may be able to sue the police for wrongful arrest.
Bowe has taken up the issue with the European Commissioner responsible for Customs issues.
Another driver was freed after a separate case last month. Jimmy Lomas, a British lorry driver who lives in Spain, reported suspicious packages on his trailer to Customs officers at Folkestone. Customs said they did not have access to proper inspection facilities and asked Lomas to drive the 10 miles to Dover.
At Dover he was arrested and charged with smuggling cannabis in his trailer. Customs officers also claimed they found 10kg of the controlled drug stashed in his cab. But the jury at Woolwich Crown Court found Lomas not guilty.
• A lorry driver sentenced to seven years imprisonment last month for importing illegal drugs is to lodge an appeal.
Londoner Grant Hill, who had been on bail since the offence in 1992, was convicted along with the operator and seven other people involved with the same haulage company.
A customs search at Dover revealed half a tonne of cannabis hidden inside the sealed load. Camberwell solicitors Gold Korns says legal counsel has established clear grounds for Hill's appeal. Ritchie: May sue for wrongful arrest following 11 months on remand.