We’re not smugglers... we were collecting cases for a Jamaican
Liner OAPs’ £1m cocaine defence
OAPS arrested with nearly £1million of cocaine in their suitcases after a Caribbean cruise are blaming a mysterious Jamaican contact, legal documents have revealed.
Roger Clarke, 72, and his wife Sue, 71, have been in separate Portuguese jails since they were found with the 9kg haul on a liner from the Bahamas at Lisbon docks in December.
The pair, who split their time between luxury cruises and their home on the Costa Blanca in Spain, were arrested by Portuguese police following a tip-off from British investigators.
Court papers released before their trial starts in Lisbon today reveal Roger told police that a mystery entrepreneur “of Jamaican origin” by the name of Lee paid for their £6,800 cruise.
Mr Clarke is believed to have claimed “Lee” asked him to buy exotic fruit for sale in the UK.
He then allegedly wanted him to pick up “empty” new suitcases from an unidentified middleman in St Lucia, which he claimed he could sell on at a large profit in up-market West London department store Harrods.
Mrs Clarke told police after her arrest she had only met “Lee” and his wife Claudette once, during a visit to their Spanish home in June 2018, which she had marked in her diary.
The court papers reveal that she told officers she had no idea the cases her husband was carrying when he “showed up” on their cruise liner, the MS Marco Polo, had drugs in them.
Although the street value of the 9kg of cocaine was initially put at £2million, experts later said they thought it was worth closer to £1million.
The Clarkes, from St Mary Cray, South London are expected to plead not guilty to drug trafficking at the trial opening at Lisbon’s main criminal court. The case will then restart next week after a break.
The couple are expected be told they could face 12 years in prison if they are convicted of the offences.