A man has been jailed after he was pressured into transporting drugs across the country.
Mark Stuart was coerced into transporting £30,000 worth of cocaine from Liverpoo l to Devon for a County Lines gang after he had built up a debt to the organised crime group after losing his job in lockdown. He was told that if he made the trip in a friend's car the debt would be reduced if he acted as a courier.
Police intercepted him near Honiton as he carried the 372 grams of cocaine towards Plymouth after he was seen shaking with fear and staring back at the Ford Fiesta nervously. Upon inspection of the car, police found a large bag of powder in his driver’s footwell Plymouth Live reports.
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Stuart, aged 43, of Kensington Road, Lipson, Plymouth, admitted possession of a class A drug with intent to supply. He was jailed for two years and four months by Judge Peter Johnson at Exeter Crown Court on August 25.
He told him: “You have been a user of cocaine for a substantial period of time and were able to find your use until the pandemic hit, but you then racked up a debt for drugs. As is now too common, you were given the option of repaying the debt by taking part in the drug supply enterprise, bringing drugs from the North West to the South West.
“You were caught with over a third of a kilo of cocaine with a value of £30,000 that represented many thousands of deals on the street. I have to send you to prison, this is too serious to suspend.”
Mr. Ryan Murray, prosecuting, said police stopped a blue Ford Fiesta on the M5 north of Exeter as it returned to Devon from a day trip to Liverpool at 5.30 pm on May 31 this year.
He said: “He was asked if there was anything in the car and replied there was nothing he knew of but the officers noticed he was shaking visibly and looking back at the vehicle. They looked inside and saw a large quantity of what was suspected to be drugs in the driver’s footwell.”
The cocaine was worth £10,500 wholesale or £30,000 at street prices and Stuart admitted he had made the trip to pay off a debt to the gang, whose members he refused to name. Mr Nick Lewin, defending, said Stuart came from a law-abiding family but got drawn into making the trip because of his debts. He borrowed the car and even insured it for the day of the trip.
He said: “The fact he insured the car shows the sort of character he is. He was put under pressure and behaved in a way he would not otherwise have done. He is not a criminal, he is a man who has made one very bad mistake.”
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