South Wales men jailed on drugs charges

Three men from South Wales have been sentenced after pleading guilty to importing two consignments of a cutting agent for use with drugs.

The consignments totalled 268 kilos in weight and would be mixed with drugs such as heroin or amphetamine. If cut with heroin, the drugs sold on the streets could have been worth an estimated £10 million.

Royston Mason, 57, from Cwmbran and Luke Whittam, 24, and Jac Ludlow, 21, who are both from Pontypool each received sentences of three years and eight months imprisonment.

On 3 June 2011 UK Border Agency officers at Dover's Eastern Docks stopped and questioned Whittam who was driving a British-registered van. He said he had been to the Netherlands to buy an engine, and claimed the laundry bags found in the rear of the vehicle contained fertiliser.

Officers called in Kent Police and Kent Fire Brigade who tested the substance and found it to be paracetamol mixed with caffeine.

Later that same month (19 June) officers intercepted Mason and Ludlow, travelling together in a hired van, who declared they had been to Calais to collect fertiliser. Thirteen clear plastic bags in their vehicle, which appeared to have been opened and resealed, were marked as "sand for children's sandpits". The contents again tested positive to a paracetamol and caffeine mixture. Investigations by Border Force linked the two attempted importations.

All three men were charged with Assisting in the supply of a controlled drug of Class A or B. Contrary to s46 of the Serious Crime Act 2007 and on 20 July 2012 appeared at Folkestone Magistrates Court where they pleaded guilty. They were sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court on 6 August.