U.K. border officials say a Canadian senior was hoping his age and use of a mobility scooter would help him escape scrutiny at a London airport in February.
Instead, Montrealer Ronald Lord, 71, has been sentenced to six years in jail for drug smuggling. He pleaded guilty after eight kilograms of cocaine was found hidden in the back seat panel of the scooter he was using.
“He obviously thought that because he was a pensioner he would be less of a target,” says Richard Whickham, the senior investigating officer for the U.K.’s National Crime Agency (NCA), a British task force focused on serious and organized crime. “He was wrong.”
Lord, who gave police an address in the Montreal suburb of Châteauguay, was sentenced last Friday in Croydon Crown Court to six years in prison. He had pleaded guilty in August to class A drug smuggling charges.
The discovery was made on Feb. 7, when Lord disembarked a flight from Barbados in the Caribbean and headed to the exit gates on a mobility scooter. Border force officials at Gatwick airport X-rayed the scooter and found the cocaine, with an estimated street value of around $1.2 million Cdn.
Lord initially denied any knowledge of the drugs, claiming he had been on a seven-day holiday to Barbados and was a tourist in the U.K. with plans to do some sightseeing, police said.
But after checking with the airlines, investigators established that he had flown from Montreal to Bridgetown, Barbados, and spent three days there before flying on to the U.K.
A search also found a screw in Lord’s pocket, which they determined came from the seat panel of the mobility scooter.
Officials also told CBC that a search of his mobile phone turned up messages with other individuals indicating that he would be paid for the “work trip.”
Drugs hidden in dry ice, fake grass and cheese
In a news release, the NCA said drug gangs are getting creative with who they use as their mules.
“Organized crime groups need smugglers like Lord to bring class A drugs into the UK,” said Whickham. “They are sold for huge profit by gangs who deal in violence and exploitation.”
As an NCA spokesperson told CBC, “using a mobility scooter is somewhat unusual in nature.
“But we see all sorts.”
In May, the British border force stopped a 23-year-old U.S. resident, who was found with crack cocaine valued at nearly $1.5 million Cdn hidden inside an eight-kilogram wheel of Parmesan cheese. Jamie Choi, from California, was sentenced in August to five years and three months in jail.
Also this year, the NCA has successfully prosecuted other drug smugglers after hauls were found in items such as an air compressor, dry ice and artificial grass.
With Lord now serving time in a British jail, the NCA’s Whickham said he hopes others think twice before opting to use a mobility device in hopes of fooling U.K. border agents.
“I hope this case sends out a message to anyone who would consider doing the same,” he said.
