A COCAINE courier who made a criminal trip through Cumbria with a £100,000 cargo to pay off a drug debt has been jailed.
Former Army man Graham White, 51, was stopped by police while travelling northbound on the M6 near Southwaite services at around 9-25am on October 7.
There were concerns about the manner of his driving of a Ford Transit van and a drug wipe tested positive for cocaine. White immediately struck officers as “anxious”, “nervous” and was vague about his intended destination. When the van was searched a 1kg highly compressed package of cocaine bearing oil which may have remained from its importation. The substance had a potential street value of around £100,000.
White admitted possession of cocaine with intent to supply when he appeared at Carlisle Crown Court this morning (MON). He did so on the basis that he was unable to repay cocaine arrears and was delivering the package for a dealer as a favour to cancel the debt but had felt “he was given little choice”.
White was lent the van and given a phone on which he was to receive further instructions.
In court he was given a discount for his guilty plea and handed a 32-month jail term for the offence.
Judge Nicholas Barker told White, of Musker Drive, Bootle, Liverpool: “I do observe you are an intelligent and mature man, and you would have had no doubt as to the seriousness of the actions you were engaged in.
“That is no doubt why you were in such a nervous state when the police stopped you – because you knew how serious your circumstances were.”
