Six years for 325 kg of cannabis resin at Portsmouth port
Southampton Crown Court jailed Spain-based property developer Jamie Lawrence for six years after he pleaded guilty to smuggling 325 kilograms of cannabis resin through Portsmouth Ferry Port. Customs officers found the resin under a bunk in the DAF tractor cab in which he arrived from St Malo in July 2002.
🇬🇧 Portsmouth Ferry Port, Hampshire · United Kingdom
A truck passenger was jailed for six years after pleading guilty to smuggling about 1 million pounds’ worth of cannabis into Britain; the driver escaped punishment for lack of evidence.[1]
Southampton Crown Court heard that Jamie Lawrence, a property developer based in Spain, arrived at Portsmouth Ferry Port in July on a ferry from St Malo as a passenger in the cab of a DAF tractor.[1]Customs officers searched the vehicle and discovered 325 kilograms of cannabis resin under the bunk.[1]Both men were arrested, but the driver was released on bail while Lawrence was charged.[1]
Judge Iain Hughes told Lawrence that his attempted smuggling was on a commercial scale.[1]A Customs spokesman said stopping Class A drugs was the service’s main priority but added that it continued to uphold the law on other illegal drugs, including cannabis.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The whole account rests on a single trade-press source; no second outlet's account could be opened.
The report dates the St Malo sailing only as July 2002 and gives no date for the sentencing, so the 31 October 2002 issue date stands in for the event.
The report gives no outcome for the driver beyond release on bail.
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Joel Niven, 20, of Walney near Barrow-in-Furness, was convicted of cannabis possession after officers recovered a sealed bag from him at Barrow Park. Magistrates fined him £80, ordered £117 in costs and surcharge, and sought forfeiture of the drugs. He had a previous caution for cannabis possession from December 2025.
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Three men were each jailed for four years over a large-scale cannabis factory in Greenock's former Tobacco Warehouse, raided in June 2025 with more than 1,000 plants. Ariel Ruko has appealed his sentence, with a hearing due at the High Court in Edinburgh on 17 November 2026.
