East Anglia Duo Accused Of Returning From Africa With Crystal Meth

Africa Trip: Cattermole

Two drug couriers were caught on consecutive days smuggling 5.89 kilos of crystal methylamphetamine concealed in their luggage after similar trips to west Africa, a jury have been told.

They are: Builder Darren Cattermole, 41, of Meadowcroft, Hollow Lane, Mendham, Harleston, Norfolk and Christopher Thrower, 37, of Station Road, Geldeston, Suffolk.

Both were stopped by Border Force officers at Heathrow Airport's Terminal Four after stepping off flights from Casablanca, Morocco last summer with drugs worth approximately £320,000.

Both have pleaded not guilty at Isleworth Crown Court to importing the drugs between June 7 and 10, last year.

Cattermole was stopped on June 8  and Thrower on June 9 and their passports revealed both had travelled from Gambia to Burkina Faso on June 1 before buying one-way tickets back home.

Cattermole was stopped by officer Sid Chadha and ordered to open his blue suitcase.

"I noticed a very strong chemical smell coming from the bag. As soon as you opened the bag it hit you," he told the court.

"The bag felt unusually heavy when emptied and I felt there was a concealment of some sort in the top and bottom of the suitcase.

"I spiked the bag, which revealed a crystalline-like substance."

Thrower was stopped the next day and a similar chemical smell was detected when his brown suitcase was opened.

An x-ray revealed an "unusually large concealment" and a white crystal substance was discovered when the bag was spiked.

African Gold: Thrower

When officers told Thrower they suspected he had imported drugs, the defendant replied: "What drugs?"

Cattermole was questioned and claimed he was a former musician living out of a van parked somewhere in Suffolk.

He said he was: "shocked, devastated," by the allegation and refused to answer any further questions.

Thrower claimed he was a regular visitor to Gambia, often driving cars there to sell, and continued to receive £60-£70 a week from a local bus service he set-up with a mini-bus he drove over.

He travelled there after his driver crashed the vehicle, he said, and was offered the opportunity to make £500 by travelling to Burkina Faso and transporting gold to the UK.

His contacts provided the brown suitcase to transport the gold, explained Thrower, but the plan was scrapped at the last minute with a promise of £250 compensation when he arrived at Heathrow Airport.

Trial continues………….