A director of transport firm helped smuggle in Class A drugs worth millions into UK
AN Ashbourne man has been jailed after playing his part in an operation to smuggle millions of pounds worth of cocaine and heroin inside a lorry of raspberry sorbet.
William Morritt, of Poplar Crescent, was found guilty following a jury trial of conspiring to fraudulently evade a prohibition on the importation of a Class A drug.
The 69-year-old was one of three people jailed over the illegal scheme which was exposed after Border Force officers followed a lorry from the east coasts to a frozen food warehouse unit in Nottinghamshire.
Around 39 kilogrammes of cocaine and 18 kilogrammes of heroin were unloaded, having been hidden inside a pallet load of raspberry sorbet.
One of Morritt’s accomplices John Brown, of Lawn Avenue, Woodlands, Doncaster, collected a lorry from Ashbourne, on August 8, 2017, and set off on a journey to Europe.
Two days later he arrived at a factory in Wellens, Belgium, where 26 pallets of frozen ice cream were collected for their return journey to the UK.
From there, the load was moved on to the town Hook of Holland, before being shipped to the UK on August 10, 2017.
The vehicle booking for Brown to travel from Holland was made by Morritt – director of a company which specialises in temperaturecontrolled transport.
The lorry was followed by Border Force officers after it left the Port of Immingham, on the east coast of England, the following day.
They remained in convoy with the vehicle as it arrived in Bilsthorpe, Nottinghamshire.
When police searched the unloaded consignment, on August 14, 2017, they found a concealed compartment in one of the pallets which contained the drugs.
Following a detailed investigation, a number of suspects were subsequently arrested, interviewed, and charged in connection with the massive drugs seizure.
Morritt was found guilty following a jury trial of conspiring to fraudulently evade a prohibition on the importation of a Class A drug. Morritt was jailed for 18 years.
John Brown pleaded guilty to conspiring to fraudulently evade a prohibition on the importation of a Class A drug and conspiring to conceal criminal property. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
John Madden, aged 51, was also identified as being involved in the operation. Analysis of phone records showed contact between the group members.
Madden, of Hall Lane, Kirkby, Knowsley, Merseyside, pleaded guilty to conspiring to fraudulently evade a prohibition on the importation of a Class A drug. He was jailed for 21 years.