British Pensioners Jailed for Drug Smuggling on the Marco Polo

In the news last week I spotted this article about a married couple who tried to smuggle Cocaine onboard Cruise & Maritime favourite Marco Polo.

A retired British couple were jailed for eight years today after being found guilty of trying to smuggle £1million of cocaine into Europe on a £6,800 luxury Caribbean cruise.

Three judges convicted retired chef Roger Clarke, 72, and his ex-secretary wife Sue, 71, of drugs trafficking after a one-day trial at Lisbon’s main criminal court.

They were told they will serve their sentences in Portugal instead of being kicked out of the country and sent back to Britain to do their jail time as a state prosecutor had requested.

The pair, who live in Guardamar, Spain, were arrested on board cruise liner Marco Polo on December 4, 2018, after Portuguese police acting on a tip-off from Britain’s National Crime Agency discovered 9lbs of cocaine hidden inside the lining of four suitcases Mr Clarke had been handed on the sunshine island of St Lucia.

Mr Clarke was reported to say he only expected 4 years ans was shocked at his 8 year sentence!

As he left court in handcuffs with a police escort he told a reporter: ‘Someone should come to see me. I would like to tell the real story.’

Bromley-born Mr Clarke, insisted he had no idea the cocaine was hidden in the lining of four suitcases picked up on the paradise island of St Lucia.

Clarke told the court he was taking the suitcases back to the UK for a friend called Lee who had promised to pay him £800 and bragged he could sell them for a massive profit at upmarket stores such as Harrods.

He said UK-based Jamaican businessman ‘Lee’ and another associate called Dee, who he named in court as George Wilmot, had asked him to help negotiate the import of exotic fruit during Caribbean cruise stopovers and he brought the suitcases back for them as a sideline.

The couple have already served nine months in custody which will be taken into account when fixing their release date.

So crime doesnt pay  and Mr and Mrs Clarke will now be experiencing the Hopsitality at HMRC Service!