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A Polish lorry driver has been locked up for six years after admitting attempting to smuggle MDMA (ecstasy), cocaine and cannabis into the country.
Lucjan Michal Bisewski was stopped by Border Force officers at the inward freight controls at Dover’s Eastern Docks in December.
They stopped a Polish-registered lorry driven by the 45-year-old and it was scanned and sent for further examination.
When questioned by officers Bisewski said he understood it was illegal to import drugs or weapons.
When officers searched the lorry, they found a holdall on the upper bunk of the cab.
Inside the holdall were packages wrapped in clear plastic and when tested, the contents of the packages gave positive reactions to MDMA, cocaine and cannabis.
The case was referred to the National Crime Agency (NCA) and Bisewski from Rumia in Poland was charged with the importation of Class A and B drugs.
The total amounts found were 3.9kgs of MDMA, 755gms of cocaine, 4.4kgs of herbal cannabis and 5gms of cannabis resin.
The drugs had a combined estimated street value of £250,000 and yesterday at Canterbury Crown Court he pleaded guilty to the smuggling attempt.
He was jailed for six years for the MDMA importation, five years for the cocaine, 12 months for the herbal cannabis and one month for the cannabis resin.
The four sentences are to run concurrently.
Paul Morgan, director of Border Force south east and Europe said: "This was a deliberate attempt to smuggle dangerous Class A drugs into the UK.
"Illegal drugs have a significant impact on our society, being the root cause behind countless burglaries, thefts and robberies. They are also used as a commodity by organised criminals linked to violence and exploitation of the most vulnerable.
“We continue to work with our colleagues from the National Crime Agency (NCA) to stamp out this despicable trade and bring those responsible to justice.”
NCA Dover operations manager Richard Bowen added: "Organised crime groups rely on couriers like Bisewski to get illegal drugs into the UK. Once here, they fuel violence and exploitation on our streets, so his role in this should not be underestimated.
"Working with partners like Border Force we are determined to do all we can to disrupt the criminal networks involved in drug supply.”
Border Force officers use hi-tech search equipment to combat immigration crime and detect banned and restricted goods that smugglers attempt to bring into the country.
Nationally, they use an array of search techniques including sniffer dogs, carbon dioxide detectors, heartbeat monitors and scanners - as well as visual searches - to find well-hidden stowaways, illegal drugs, firearms and tobacco which would otherwise end up causing harm to local people, businesses and communities.
