Pair jailed after £5m drug smuggling attempt

Two men have been jailed for a total of 22 years after being found guilty of smuggling 100 kilos of heroin and six kilos of cocaine into the UK through Dover.

The drugs had a combined estimated street value of over £5 million - the heroin was valued as having a potential street value of up to £4.9 million and the cocaine as £297,000.

Canterbury Crown Court heard that David Lewis, 49, of Buckley, Flintshire was arrested on 16 July 2009 at Dover's Eastern Docks when UK Border Agency officers searched the lorry and trailer he was driving.

Officers removed bolts from the floor of the trailer and lowered the plate they secured and found eight metal trays in the space. Six of the metal trays held brown taped packages which contained approximately 100 kilos of heroin and six kilos of cocaine.

Evidence linked the attempted importation to Everardus Wijtvliet, who employed Lewis and owned the truck he was driving. Dutch police searched Wijtvliet's house in Dussen in the Netherlands in May 2010 and found trays of a similar design to those in the lorry in his garden.

Wijtvliet was arrested in Tenerife on 21 February 2011 the same day as he was listed at number ten on Crimestoppers 'UK's Most Wanted' list.

Wijtvliet was found guilty by jury at Canterbury Crown Court on 7 September 2011 and Lewis was found guilty at Canterbury on 24 February. The pair were sentenced at the same court on Friday (2 March 2012) with Lewis receiving nine years and Wijtvliet 13 years.