A 58-YEAR-OLD Dutch national who swallowed 199 pellets of cannabis resin to smuggle them into Jersey has been jailed for ten months – and will be recommended for deportation afterwards.
Evert Paul Smallegange had been out of work and was “desperate for money” when he agreed to smuggle almost a kilo of drugs into the Island inside his body, the Royal Court heard yesterday.
The drugs had an estimated street value of between £20,000 and £30,000.
Crown Advocate Lauren Taylor, prosecuting, said Smallegange was arrested at the Airport on 1 February after arriving on a flight from Gatwick, and admitted the offence. He was taken to the Hospital and over the next four days passed 199 pellets of around five grams each, all professionally wrapped.
The Crown Advocate said Smallegange had a number of previous convictions, including four for drugs offences in his native Netherlands, and was deemed at high risk of reconviction, so suggested a sentence of 12 months in jail.
She also argued he should be recommended for deportation, saying: “The defendant’s continued presence is detrimental to the Island.”
Advocate Lauren Glynn, defending, said Smallegange’s life had been “somewhat chaotic” since being unable to work due to illness and he had amassed debts of around £10,000.
He was asked by an acquaintance in Spain to bring the drugs to Jersey and had travelled from Malaga via London.
Advocate Glynn pointed out: “He was in dire financial circumstances. But he was co-operative and candid with the police and offered a guilty plea at the first moment.”
She argued for a jail term of six to eight months.
Bailiff Sir Tim Le Cocq, who was presiding, said the Jurats were giving him credit for his guilty plea and told him: “We take your remorse to be entirely genuine in these circumstances.”
But he added: “You do not have the benefit of mitigation for good character.”
The Jurats sitting were Elizabeth Dulake and Gareth Hughes.
