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Ecstasy haul in cabbie’s tyres
Nov 1 2008 by Luke Traynor, Liverpool Echo
A LIVERPOOL taxi driver was jailed for six years for smuggling 5,000 ecstasy tablets into the Channel Islands while on a family trip.
Carl Nelson, 31, was stopped by customs officials at the harbour in St Helier, Jersey, on July 10 and his car was searched.
The haul of tablets, valued between £5,000 and £50,000, was discovered hidden in the spare wheel in the boot of the vehicle.
Nelson, of Pinewood Close, Netherley, had caught a ferry from Weymouth in Dorset.
When Nelson was arrested, he was travelling with his wife and two children.
Customs officials noted he had bought a day return ticket, signalling his intention to return back to the mainland after dropping off the package.
On Tuesday, the court heard that Nelson was working as a courier to hand over the drugs to unnamed people in Jersey.
It was said he had a drugs habit himself and was coerced into ferrying the package into St Helier by “unscrupulous criminals”.
But his defence of taking part in the deal to fund his own addiction was disregarded by the court.
Michael Birt, deputy bailiff of the Jersey’s royal court, said: “The court could not accept as mitigation that he was pressurised into smuggling the tablets because the amount of drugs involved was substantial.”
Steve Le Marquand, director of law enforcement at Jersey customs, said: “Although the court accepted Nelson was just a courier in this deal, we have a zero-tolerance approach to smuggling.
“Individuals who endeavour to bring illegal drugs to the island will be prosecuted with the full force of the law.”
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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin
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