Cannabis found in tyre
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by Jane Sayer • An owner-driver faces up to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of drug smuggling by Maidstone Crown Court.
Christopher Griffin of Isle of Sheppey, Kent will he sentenced tomorrow (Friday 10 February). It is the second time Griffin has been tried for this offence; the first trial was abandoned after the jury failed to agree a verdict.
Griffin's wife, Lesley, maintains his innocence, and says she will sell the family car to pay for an appeal.
Griffin's firm, Griffin Transport, ceased trading when the 44-year-old was arrested at Dover in July 1993. His truck has been returned to the leasing company.
Customs officers found 200kg of cannabis in the spare tyre of Griffin's Leyland Daf 95 when he was returning with a load of melons from Spain on 12 July 1993.
Griffin's outward and return loads were supplied by Swindon-based Waylanders.
Waylanders' managing director, Peter Smith, says the melons were loaded at Vegamar Transit Os' packing house at Puig, just outside Valencia, on 10 July, destined for Greenwich. "We delivered the load on the 13th after sending down another trailer to Dover," he says, "but Vegamar are refusing to pay us £3,500 for the job because they say we were late delivering, but three days from Spain to the UK is normal."
This is the second time a driver working for Waylanders has been charged with drug smuggling, and Smith is concerned that drivers are being made scapegoats: "It is too easy for people working in these packing houses to plant drugs," he warns.