71-year-old man jailed for cannabis smuggling
A pensioner from Dorset who admitted smuggling 30 kilos of cannabis powder into the UK via Portsmouth ferry port has been jailed for three years and nine months. Robert Coulson, 71, of Lyme Regis, was arrested by Border Force officers shortly after arriving on a ferry from Caen in November.
He pleaded guilty to drug smuggling charges at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court. His car was stopped and searched on his arrival at Portsmouth, Coulson told officers he spends three months of the winter in Morocco because of his arthritis and was returning for a medical appointment.
Shortly afterwards officers found a quantity of powder hidden inside four tyre inner tubes in the car’s spare wheel compartment. This was tested and found to be cannabis.
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