Cruise ship passenger jailed after £200,000 of cocaine found in suitcases

A DRUG dealer has been jailed for almost ten years after being caught bringing more than £200,000 worth of cocaine into Southampton from the Caribbean on a cruise liner, the incident happened on the 31st of October 2017, and convicted drug dealer Kevin Enright was recently on trail for 2 and a half days at Southampton Crown Court.

As Kevin Enright aged 55 from Dunstable, Bedfordshire  disembarked from his 21 day Caribbean cruise holiday he was stopped by Border Force officers.  He was found to have two false linings in his suitcases and almost three kilos of cocaine were recovered with a street value of £220,000.

Despite denying the charges, and claiming the cruise on the Arcadia liner came as a result of a good day at the bookies, he was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years , following an investigation by the National Crime Agency.

Enright denied knowledge of the drugs, but NCA investigators were able to prove that he had collected the cases in St Lucia, and been in contact with others, suspected of involvement in the importation, including one man who was supposed to have collected the drugs following Enright’s arrival.

The 55-year-old, who was found guilty of importing class A drugs, has a previous conviction for drug dealing, for which he was sentenced to four years in prison back in 2005.

There have been many attempts previously, one of the biggest finds was  when Canadian woman Isabelle LaGace attempted  to smuggle almost 30 kilograms of cocaine into Australia. She was sentenced to seven and a half years behind bars for her trouble!

Border force control want to send out a strong message to any would be smugglers that cruises are no easy option and tight controls are in place.

A  NCA officer reportedly stated that “our investigation involved liaison with law enforcement partners in the Caribbean, and through that, we were able to prove that (his) story was made up . . . it became clear that he had contacts with others involved in drug trafficking on both sides of the Atlantic.”