Four years and eight months for 24 kg of cannabis resin in hire car
Andrew Chard, 39, was sentenced to four years and eight months in Jersey's Royal Court on 24 July 2026 for importing 24 kg of cannabis resin hidden in the bumpers and engine bay of a hire car. Customs found the drug when he arrived on the ferry from Portsmouth on 16 March 2026; the maximum street value was £593,000.
Andrew Stephen Chard, 39, was sentenced to four years and eight months in Jersey’s Royal Court on 24
July 2026 for importing 24 kg of cannabis resin.[1][2]He had pleaded guilty when he first appeared
in court.[1][3]
Chard arrived in Jersey on the ferry from Portsmouth on 16 March 2026 driving a UK-registered
Peugeot 3008, and customs officers selected the car for examination.[1]They found 24 kg of
cannabis resin concealed in and around the front and rear bumpers; the Jersey Evening Post and
Bailiwick Express also reported packages in the engine bay.[1][4][3]A customs expert put the maximum
street value in Jersey at £593,000.[1][2]
The cover story
Chard told officers that he had come for a trial shift at the Pomme d’Or Hotel, saying its name
translated as “Golden Apple” but not remembering the name itself; the hotel confirmed that the
account was false.[2][3]The court heard that he had debts of more than £16,000 from cocaine and
gambling, and had been homeless and sofa-surfing for four months before his remand.[4][3]His
advocate called him a vulnerable adult preyed upon by dealers.[4][3]Deputy Bailiff Mark Temple said
Chard was a “trusted courier” who had booked the hire car himself and had been trusted with a
valuable quantity of drugs.[4][3]
Photos and video
Andrew Chard in a custody photograph released by Jersey Customs and Immigration Service.Photo details
The sources do not say where the cannabis was loaded or who supplied it.
The Jersey Evening Post reported the sentencing on 27 July without giving the hearing date; the Government of Jersey statement dates the sentence 24 July 2026.
Bailiwick Express reported messages to a contact saved as "Sir Booth" and a possible link to Edwin Booth, stopped with £11,000 in cash; it said the link was not confirmed.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jailed Andrew Byrne, 45, for five years and one month after gardaí caught him transporting cannabis on the N7. Customs had intercepted a 42 kg package, valued at €840,000 and concealed in Tupperware, and he pleaded guilty to two counts of possession for sale or supply.
DNC officers in Nandigram, Bogura, arrested three people on 11 November 2026 and recovered 200 grams of ganja and five pieces of yaba. A mobile court jailed all three for one month of simple imprisonment and fined each 100 taka, and the magistrate destroyed the drugs on the spot.
Jade Hopkins, 35, was bound over to be of good behaviour for 12 months for twice taking cannabis into La Moye prison on behalf of a former partner a court found had intimidated her. The magistrate, David Le Cornu, said the offences passed the custody threshold but that her case was exceptional.
Curtis Aubert, 23, was sentenced to 330 hours of community service on 30 April 2026 for his part in importing cannabis from Spain. He had met a courier at Jersey Airport in February 2024 who had swallowed 199 pellets containing about one kilogram of cannabis resin.
