Duo involved in plot to bring £1m of cannabis on car transporter to Corby from Northern Ireland caught red-handed
A 140kg haul of cannabis was seized in Corby as cops foiled a plan to bring the drugs from Northern Ireland to the mainland.
Belfast-based British Army veteran Brian Clark and London plasterer Daniel Wraight were arrested after boxes stuffed with vacuum-packed blocks of the class-B drug were taken off the transporter and put into the back of a van in Shelton Road under cover of darkness.
When arrested, Wraight, 45, complained to officers that he ‘was being detained for picking up a bit of puff, yeah?’
Both men were in court on Thursday (September 18) to be sentenced for drugs offences.
Northampton Crown Court heard the boxes containing tightly-packed slabs of cannabis were transferred into vehicles loaded on to car transporter driven by Clark, 43, at a pick-up point in Northern Ireland.
On January 7 this year, Wraight, of Richmond Road, Ilford, drove his white Peugeot Boxer van to Shelton Road in an industrial area of Corby, where Clark arrived in his transporter at about 7.30pm.
Both men then got out of the vehicles and began moving boxes from the cars into the van.
But the Metropolitan Police had been watching the men, and pulled up in a car before arresting Clark, of Warren Grove, Belfast. Wraight ran off, but was caught a short time later.
He had two phones on him. Officers eventually recovered nine boxes of cannabis containing 44 vacuum packed bundles of the drug. Officers said the wholesale value of the cannabis was between £352,000 and £492,000 – with a street value of £1million.
Clark pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis. Wraight admitted possession with intent to supply cannabis, and driving without insurance.
Clark’s barrister Paul Webb said that he had been in the army for 17 years and had done tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"He came back to civvy life and he bears some trauma,” said Mr Webb.
After he left the army, Clark re-trained as a lorry driver and was employed driving HGVs for six years.
But after he suffered some mental health issues related to his time in the army and the breakdown of his marriage, he began using cannabis and alcohol.
“He found himself in a very dark place,” added Mr Webb.
He got into £6,000 of debt with drug dealers who weren’t prepared to give him time to pay back the cash.
"They said he had to pay it off immediately or he could run an ‘errand’ for the drug suppliers by taking drugs from Northern Ireland to the mainland,” said Mr Webb.
"During that conversation they also asked how his wife and children were. They knew a lot more than expected about his background. He was fearful of the repercussions were he not to comply with their request.”
Mr Webb said that Clark’s arrest had brought ‘great embarrassment’ to his children, one of whom was described as a ‘semi-professional sportsperson’. He had started a support group for veterans in prison.
For Daniel Wraight, barrister Michael Fullerton said that his client was a man of ‘good reputation’ as a plaster, and had previously worked for Warner Brothers’ Studios. He said Wraight was remorseful and that there was no evidence he was anything other than a courier for the drug gang.
Recorder Helen Wolstenholme said: “You know the issues that drugs can cause. You know it’s not a victimless crime. Mr Clark, two of your uncles died from drug abuse.
"Mr Wraight I do not find that you have real remorse in this case. You committed the offence for financial gain.”
Wraight was given a sentence of four years and six months in prison, and was disqualified from driving for three months on his release from prison.
Clark was sentenced to three years and three months in prison.
Both will serve half of their sentence, less time already served, before being released.
Recorder Wolstenholme commended the police officers for the operation.
Both men will now face potential confiscation hearings under the Proceeds of Crime Act.