A 20-YEAR-OLD man has been jailed for trying to import cocaine that could have been worth almost £1 million into the Island.
Elijah Eric Silbourne, from Bristol, was sentenced to six years in prison after he attempted to bring in almost 1kg of cocaine into Jersey, with a potential street value of up to £880,000.
Crown Advocate Carla Carvalho, prosecuting, told the Royal Court on Tuesday that Silbourne was acting as courier for a UK-based criminal enterprise.
The court heard that Silbourne travelled to Jersey on the ferry from Poole on 1 June with his partner when he was stopped by Customs officers.
They searched the car and when they removed the boot lining, they found a plastic bag containing the concealed drugs.
Crown Advocate Carvalho said the cocaine had a purity of 75% and a street value of up to £220,000. However, she added that cocaine of that purity was usually cut three or four times before being sold and if done so could be worth up to £880,000 on the street.
Advocate Nicholas Mière, defending, asked the court to impose a lesser sentence and alluded to Silbourne’s young age at the time of offending as a mitigating factor.
He also said that Silbourne had the benefit of an early guilty plea, no previous convictions and that he was co-operative with the authorities throughout.
