Three Drug Smuggling Attempts Foiled

Drugs with a street value of more than £7 million have been seized at Dover after the UK Border Agency foiled three separate smuggling attempts at the port within the space of a week.

The latest seizure was made on 22 February when Agency officers discovered approximately 500 kilos of cannabis resin, with an estimated street value of £1.25 million hidden in a Slovakian-registered lorry at the inward freight controls at Dover's Eastern Docks.

A second seizure of cannabis resin, this time of approximately 2,000 kilos and with an estimated street value of £6 million, was made on 21 February after officers found the drugs hidden in a load of mixed goods in a Dutch-registered lorry.

On 18 February approximately two kilos of heroin, with an estimate value of £120,000, was discovered hidden in British-registered car at the inward tourist controls.

The 45-year-old Portuguese driver of the Dutch lorry, Luis Antonio Lopes de Faria, appeared in Folkestone Magistrates on Friday (25 February 2011) where he pleaded not guilty and was remanded in custody.

A Danish man, Stig Neilson, resident in Stepney, London appeared at Dover Magistrates Court on 24 February where he withheld his plea, and was remanded in custody for the attempted heroin importation.

A 53-year-old Slovakian man has been bailed whilst enquiries into attempted importation of the 500 kilos of cannabis continue.

Investigations by the UK Border Agency into all three cases are ongoing.