A pair of crooks have been jailed in a landmark case after prosecutors proved they were bringing caffeine and paracetamol into Britain to mix with HEROIN.
Anthony Woodford, 23, and David Lewinson, 44, were found with 150kg of the legal substances when boarder control stopped their van at Dover Eastern Docks in Kent.
In the first case of its kind, prosecutors proved the powder would have been used as a cutting agent for heroin with a street value of more than £5million.
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The pair were convicted of assisting in the supply of class A drugs at Canterbury Crown Court on Monday and were jailed for eight years yesterday.
Lewinson, from Hendon, London, was stopped by UK Border Agency officers driving a white VW Caddy van at Dover on April 21, 2011.
An investigation by the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate found Woodford, from Harrow, London, was the organiser of the trip.
DS Mat Scott, from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said: “We believe this to be the first time in the UK that the prosecution were able to prove, beyond doubt, that the huge quantity of paracetamol and caffeine were intended to be used to cut with heroin.
“This has been a successful test case and therefore has set a precedent for this type of offence.
“The sentence given today will send a clear message to those involved in the importation and supply of drugs that we will relentlessly investigate when we feel that offences are being committed.”
