Fake ambulance drug smugglers jailed for between 18 and 28 years | UK news | The Guardian - 0 views
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Fake ambulance drug smugglers jailed for between 18 and 28 years
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Three drug smugglers have been jailed for at least 18 years each for transporting as much as £1.6bn worth of cocaine and heroin into the UK using a fleet of fake ambulances.
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A third man, Richard Engelsbel, 51, was given an 18-year jail term after admitting that he acted as a driver or driver’s assistant on 25 smuggling trips purporting to be journeys to pick up injured patients.
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The National Crime Agency (NCA) established that the gang trafficked drugs, packaged in colour-coded parcels and hidden behind false panels in the ambulances, from the Netherlands to the UK.
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Sources within the NCA said they believed 20 different gangs around the UK relied on the ambulance racket for supplies of class A drugs.
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He said: “The prosecution suggest this was a top-level, audacious, and – up to the point of interception and the arrests – a successful and lucrative criminal conspiracy.”
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Inside the back of the ambulance, concealed behind panels in six “hides”, were neatly stacked, colour-coded packets of class A drugs, including cocaine with a street value of more than £30m and heroin worth £8m. Officers also found 60,000 ecstasy tablets.
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The court was told that the company’s records showed the fake ambulance journeys had been “going on over weeks and months”. In all, at least 45 trips were made in 14 months.
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Bijlsma was described in the court as Schoon’s right-hand man. The prosecution told the jury that a rivet gun was found with Bijlsma’s DNA on it. It said this gun was used to fasten the panels inside the ambulance.