UK truckers on bread and water in Bulgaria THE SIZE OF
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by Derren Hayes II A North London driver and his mate are to go on trial next month in Bulgaria charged with attempting to smuggle nearly £650,000 worth of heroin.
Driver John Mills had been hired by RMB International of Rainham. Essex to take vehicle parts out to Istanbul, Turkey on behalf of a Bulgarian company called Anatolin Shipping and Transport. His friend Peter Hobbs accompanied him to navigate. The lorry was hired and the two men picked it up from Edmonton lorry park, north London in May.
The goods were delivered in June and the men were told to wait for a backload, which they picked up five days later.
Campaigning group Fair Trials Abroad. which has been monitoring the case closely, says both men only left the vehicle for a six-hour period during those five days.
On 7 June they were stopped at the Bulgarian border by cus toms officers and two bags containing 18kg of heroin were found in an unlocked trailer compartment where they kept their laundry.
The two men have been detained at Sofia Prison for the past six months and for much of the time they have been living on bread and water. Their trial is set for 6 February, following the adjournment of an earlier trial on 27 October.
The UK's National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) has carried out their own investigation and wrote a letter to the two men's Bulgarian lawyer on 24 October stating that there was no evidence against Hobbs. The letter made no mention of Mills.
Fair Trials Abroad believe no evidence exists against either man and says: "This is a similar situation to the Roy Clarke case and we are particularly concerned that both men receive an equal defence."
RMB International was unavailable for comment.