Newlywed jailed for smuggling cocaine

Jan 10 2009 by Paul James, The Journal

A NEWLYWED man will spend the first years of married life behind bars after being caught attempting to smuggle cocaine with a street value of more than £400,000 through Newcastle Airport.

Lawrence Izundu was intercepted by officers from the UK Border Agency when he arrived at the terminal from Cameroon via Paris on September 18 last year.

He was stopped in the ‘nothing to declare’ channel where officers discovered 4.49 kilos of cocaine concealed in the lining of a suitcase he had with him.

When arrested and quizzed by customs officers, he claimed he had innocently agreed while on his honeymoon in Cameroon to carry the case for a stranger in exchange for an air ticket.

But he later admitted he had known the case contained drugs and had agreed to smuggle into the UK to pay of large debts he had accrued, handing over the haul on his arrival. Yesterday at Newcastle Crown Court, Nigerian-born Izundu, of Villas Road, London, was jailed for eight years after admitting importing a controlled Class A drug.

Passing sentence, Judge Beatrice Bolton said she was sentencing the 35-year-old on the basis he had been acting as a mule in bringing the drugs into the country and gave him full credit for his guilty plea.

But she told him: “Without people like you willing to carry large amounts of drugs into the country in suitcases, the drugs trade would not be nearly so successful as it is.”

Brian Heggarty, defending, said Izundu, who has both Nigerian and Austrian nationality, had lived in the UK since 2002, largely working in care homes and latterly as a self-employed joiner.

“In June last year, he travelled to his native Nigeria to marry,” said Mr Heggarty. “While in Africa, he saw his father he hadn’t seen for some time.

“His father had been ill for many years, having suffered a stroke, and only at that time did he appreciate in just what poor health his father was and stayed longer than his ticket permitted him to stay, and found himself without funds.

“He insists he was simply a mule. The offence was committed out of a wish to support his family rather than a desire to lead an extravagant lifestyle.”

A spokesman for HM Revenue and Customs said after the case: “Izundu, a UK resident living in London, initially made claims that he left the UK on 21 June 2008 to travel to Nigeria to marry his Nigerian fiancée.

“After their wedding, Izundu claims the pair went to Cameroon on honeymoon and while they were there that he suddenly realised that his return UK ticket had expired.

“Telling his story to a stranger in a bar, Izundu then claimed that the stranger offered to buy him a ticket home in return for taking back a piece of luggage and that despite opening the suitcase to put some of his clothes inside, Izundu initially insisted that he was oblivious to its illegal contents – a huge haul of cocaine.”

HMRC assistant chief investigating officer Dave Cowie added: “Izundu admitted that he in fact knew that the suitcase contained drugs but claimed that he was not aware of the quantity or value of drugs inside the suitcase.

“And he had committed the crime in order to help pay off debts he had accrued.”