Lorry driver jailed 8 years for 1.75 tonnes of cannabis at Dover
Canterbury Crown Court jailed Portuguese lorry driver Luis Antonio Lopes De Faria for eight years on 21 February 2012 after 1.75 tonnes of cannabis worth over £5 million were found in his Dutch-registered lorry at Dover Eastern Docks a year earlier.
UK Border Agency officers stopped 45-year-old Portuguese driver Luis Antonio Lopes De Faria at the
inward freight controls of Dover Eastern Docks on 21 February 2011 and searched the
Dutch-registered lorry he was driving.[1][2]Inside a load of mixed goods, six pallets held boxes
containing 1.75 tonnes of cannabis with an estimated street value of over £5 million.[1]
He was arrested and charged with attempted importation, pleaded not guilty at Folkestone
Magistrates’ Court on 25 February 2011, then changed his plea to guilty at Canterbury Crown Court
on 10 January.[1]The court sentenced him to eight years in prison on 21 February 2012.[1]Assistant Director Malcolm Bragg said the case showed the strength of port controls and that the
sentence should warn off other smugglers.[1]
Photos and video
Boxes of vacuum-sealed cannabis packages pictured with the report on the sentencePhoto details
The agency first put the load at about 2,000 kg of resin worth £6 million; this report uses the later account of 1.75 tonnes worth over £5 million.
Two other seizures announced with this one, 500 kg of resin in a Slovakian lorry and 2 kg of heroin in a British car, are separate events left out here.
The two reports spell his first name Luis and Luis.
Callum Roper, 22, of Holton Road, Barry, was jailed for 30 months at Cardiff Crown Court after admitting offences involving the supply of cannabis and magic mushrooms. He pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of both drugs between 3 December 2025 and 14 September 2026 and had been remanded in custody awaiting sentence.
Bolton Crown Court sentenced seven members of three linked drug gangs that trafficked cocaine and cannabis between Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent and North Wales. Five men received prison sentences of up to eleven and a half years, while two couriers received community orders and two leaders await later sentencing.
Daniel Thompson, 36, was found with 8,223.6 grams of cannabis resin, valued at up to £35,950, when officers searched a house on Moss Side Lane in Rixton in July 2023. Chester Crown Court gave him a nine-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months and 100 hours of unpaid work after he admitted possessing the resin with intent to supply and possessing cocaine.
Sentenced 1Cannabis 8.2236 kgPrison 9 months suspended for 12 months
Bradford Crown Court jailed Alfie Leahy, 21, for five years and Connor Broadbent, 26, for three years and four months over drugs found when police raided two homes in the Holmewood area at dawn on 17 July 2026. Cannabis was seized at a Grayswood Crescent address and cocaine, cash and jewellery at Dawson Street; police put the total street value of the drugs at more than £22,000.
Charged 2Prison 5 years (Leahy); 3 years and 4 months (Broadbent)
