Van driver jailed over £2m drug smuggling

A van driver from Staffordshire has been jailed for 10 years after attempting to smuggle £2 million worth of heroin into the UK.

Neil Anthony Tasker, aged 52, of Clay Street, Penkridge, pleaded guilty at Canterbury Crown Court on Tuesday to trying to smuggle 42 kilos of heroin into the country. He was stopped by the UK Border Agency officers at Dover Eastern Docks on September 5 driving a UK-registered VW van containing car parts destined for Liverpool.

After questioning Tasker, officers searched the vehicle.

When the front seat was unbolted and raised, they found 42 wrapped packages which tested positive for heroin.

Tasker was arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling and questioned by the UK Border Agency.

He initially claimed to be of no fixed abode, but further investigations showed his home address to be in Penkridge.

Officers visited the property and found £13,500 hidden in a food canister. Tasker was then arrested again for money laundering.

Malcolm Bragg, assistant director of criminal and financial investigations for the UK Border Agency, said: "Drugs devastate lives and harm communities.

"The UK Border Agency is alert to the various ways in which attempts are made to smuggle drugs into the UK. This sentence will serve as a deterrent to others contemplating this serious form of criminality.

"I would encourage anyone with information relating to drug smuggling to contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111."

Tasker was jailed for 10 years for the heroin importation and two years for money laundering offences, both to run concurrently.

Confiscation proceedings are likely to be sought at a later stage.

The UK Border Agency was launched in April 2008 by the Home Office, as a single force to protect the UK's borders, control migration, prevent border tax fraud, smuggling and immigration crime and make quick and fair decisions on asylum claims.