British trio ‘were forced to be drug mules at gunpoint’
RELATIVES of three Britons arrested in Mauritius with more than three kilos of heroin claim the men were forced to transport the drugs at gunpoint.
Builder Aaron James, 42, bricklayer Ashley Tierney, 32, and electrician Asa Garbutt, 37, were stopped at the island nation’s Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam airport. They are said to have passed through Nairobi in Kenya and got to Mauritius on November 18.
Customs officers reportedly became suspicious of a previous trip to Thailand. The three men, all from Devon, had allegedly ingested a total of 282 ‘drug dumplings’ with an estimated market value of more than £1million.
Pictures emerged of the men in hospital where they were taken to purge the drugs, with one shown asking for help and saying they have no clean water. Mr Garbutt’s brother Leon said one of the men was able to briefly call his family and said they were forced to transport drugs after they were kidnapped by a gang in Kenya.
He said: ‘All three are in a hospital in Mauritius. Somehow one got his hands on a phone and called home. Basically we had a very brief conversation.
‘They were in Kenya and were taken to a hotel by a gang of men.
‘All I’ve been told is that they were held hostage in a hotel room in Kenya for four days. They were shown photos of their homes from Google maps, taunted with guns then told their homes will be torched if they didn’t do as told.
‘They were on a lads’ holiday in Kenya. I believe they were forced to take drugs to Mauritius.’
He said the family were distraught. ‘I haven’t slept for two days,’ he said. ‘My parents are worried sick, too.
‘The British Embassy has been informed by all three families. At the moment I’m waiting for the Foreign Office to get back in touch.’
The men said they did not know the name of a contact they were allegedly set to meet and police objected to their bail, Le Mauricien newspaper reported. It is thought that they have now been moved to a jail.
The Foreign Office is aware of the reports but will not comment on them.
Two of the men are from Paignton and the other from Torquay.