Yodel van driver foils £30,000 drugs smuggling plot

Alarm bells rang for the Yodel van driver when he was met outside a house in Victoria Road, Halesowen for a second time while dropped off a parcel, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

He was anxious in case deliveries were being intercepted and reported these fears to bosses who opened the next package that was due to be delivered to the property.

It had been sent from Amsterdam and contained three and a half kilos of skunk cannabis worth £30,000.

Yodel blew the cover of Sunner by using its computer tracking system to record the package had been successfully delivered on May 14 2014.

It then had six calls from the same phone number insisting it had not been given to the intended receiver.

The caller was asked to go to the Yodel depot in Brades Road, Oldbury to discuss the matter. Dharminder Sunner arrived the next day, gave the right tracking number for the parcel and was immediately arrested. His phone was taken for analysis which confirmed it had been used to call Yodel.

The 35-year-old initially denied any knowledge of the drugs but the voice on the calls matched his during a recorded police interview.

Further inquiries revealed Sunner had made trips to Amsterdam both the previous month and four days before the delivery was sent.

Mr Phillips continued: "His ticket had been paid by somebody else but the defendant's phone was used to book it."

Sunner finally admitted being promised £300 to collect the parcel by a man who threatened violence if the offer was not accepted.

The case had been delayed by an unsuccessful hunt for the others involved and his initial denial of involvement. He changed his plea to guilty shortly before his trial.

Mr Balraj Singh, defending, said Sunner suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD) after being stabbed during a raid on his family's shop and had become addicted to cannabis after taking it to sleep and relax.

The lawyer continued: "This made him relatively vulnerable to exploitation. He was the fall guy. Another person used his phone for calls to Amsterdam to ensure he was the front man if anything went wrong. Since his arrest three years ago he has decided to get his life back in order. He had limited involvement and there is clear evidence of ongoing medical problems."

Sunner, from Claremont Road, Pennfields, pleaded guilty to importing cannabis. He was given a 10 month jail sentence suspended for 18 months with 120 hours unpaid work and was ordered to pay £2,800 costs by Judge Simon Ward who explained: "There has been a change in your life since this offence and you have PTSD."