Two brothers who enjoyed a trip to James Bond island in Thailand ‘gambled’ with their ‘liberty’ and lost as they travelled back home.
Alan White, 31, and Stephen White, 33, flew out to the Far East and took holiday snaps at the famous landmark, which was featured in the 1974 James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun. But the pair had things other than tourism on their minds.
Manchester Crown Court heard that on their return, they had decided to ‘gamble’ their ‘liberty’ by trying to smuggle vast amounts of cannabis back into the UK. The scheme, which they were recruited into by more sophisticated criminals, was designed as a quick way to pay off household debts.
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But soon after they landed at Manchester Airport, their plot was uncovered. Alongside their associate Owen Duffy, 23, who was also on the flight which arrived in Manchester on August 29 from Thailand via Dubai, the trio were all approached by Border Force officers.
Each man had two suitcases containing cannabis weighing more than 50 kilos, which also were found to contain an AirTag to track their location. Duffy had cannabis worth £214,720 at wholesale level, Alan White had £205,840 worth and Stephen White £213,400 worth.
The trio were charged and have been remanded in prison ever since. The three men, all from West Yorkshire, were all handed 28 month jail sentences.
Judge John Potter told them: “You each decided to gamble your liberty by taking part in trying to smuggle large quantities of cannabis into the UK. On any view of the quantities of cannabis involved…you were each to receive significant financial gain for acting as you did.
“Your respective fall from grace given your lack of relevant antecedent history is complete. It is in some ways sad to see three people with that background in life committing offences of this seriousness, facing the prospect of a significant custodial sentence in each of your three cases. But, with respect, gentlemen, you only have yourselves to blame.”
Defending Duffy, Megan Edwards said that the defendant fell into debt after losing his job. She said that a friend of Duffy’s had paid for him to fly out to Thailand, and that he was then recruited into the scheme in a bar.
Defending Alan White, Rebecca Caulfield said that the defendant had also lost his job and got into debt. She said the incident had been a ‘learning curve’ for him.
For Stephen White, David Farley said that the defendant had got into debt and had made a ‘stupid mistake’ which he now regrets. Duffy, of Monkswood Avenue, Leeds; Stephen White, of Sandbeds Road, Halifax; and Alan White, of Henconner Lane, Leeds, all pleaded guilty to one count of being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of a class B drug.
