WIREDGOV

A van driver who attempted to smuggle liquid amphetamine with a likely potential street value of almost £8 million into the UK is facing five years in jail, after a National Crime Agency investigation.

Lee Dyer, 40, of North Road, St Helens was stopped by Border Force officers at the Channel Tunnel terminal in Coquelles on 22 May 2014 and told them he had been in Belgium doing some plastering and collecting solar panels.

But in the rear of the van officers found boxes containing more than a hundred wine bottles and when the substance inside the bottles seemed oily further checks were carried out. The liquid tested positive for amphetamine and Dyer was arrested.

NCA investigators then began to check out his story, searching his flat in St Helens, finding receipts for other Eurotunnel trips and for petrol stations in the Netherlands.

Checks on the van showed it had been hired in Warrington, with Dyer supplying the hire company with a false address. For previous trips he had also used hired vehicles, taking them abroad illegally.

Forensic tests on the 99 kilos of concentrated liquid amphetamine in the wine bottles found that there was enough to have produced almost three quarters of a tonne at street-level purity, with a potential likely street value of almost £8 million.

After being charged Dyer was bailed to appear in court on 17 November 2014, but he failed to attend. NCA officers liaised with Merseyside Police and he was re-arrested the next day in St Helens, to be remanded in custody.

At a hearing on Monday 2 February Dyer admitted importing controlled drugs, and yesterday (Monday 23 March) a judge at Canterbury Crown Court sentenced him to five years in jail.

Matthew Rivers, from the NCA’s Border Policing Command, said:

“The story Dyer told to explain his trips to the continent was a lie. Our investigation proved that in reality he was a professional courier who travelled to the Netherlands to source drugs.

“This was a huge quantity of amphetamine, enough to make many hundreds of thousands of street-level doses and fuel further criminal activity.”

Paul Morgan, Director of Border Force South East and Europe, said:

“This seizure means a significant quantity of drugs failed to reach the streets and demonstrates Border Force’s commitment to keeping them out of the UK.

“We work closely with law enforcement colleagues, including the NCA, to prevent drug trafficking and do all we can to put those responsible behind bars.”