Long jail term for M6 drugs courier caught with ?100k worth of …
Thirty-one-year-old Asllan Byberi was caught red-handed as he drove south along the M6 in north Cumbria with 1.1kg of wrapped cocaine in the car he was driving, Carlisle[1] Crown Court was told. The defendant pleaded guilty to possessing the Class A drug with intent to supply. Prosecutor Brendan Burke outlined the facts of the offence.
"It was March 1 this year and at 4.30pm police stopped the defendant as he was driving what turned out to be his brother's VW Golf, heading south on the M6 near to Southwaite Services," said the barrister. When asked to identify himself, the defendant gave the police false details. These were quickly disproved by immigration documents which the officers found in the vehicle, said Mr Burke.
A search of the vehicle led to the discovery of a 1.lkg package of cocaine, with a wholesale value of GBP28,000 but a potential street value of GBP100,000. Mr Burke said the offence was aggravated by the defendant's criminal record. It includes a similar offence from 2015, when the defendant was jailed for 37 months for possession with intent to supply.
Oliver Jarvis, for the defendant, said that Byberi's partner was eight months pregnant with their first child while he was in prison. He had told his defence team that he was a drug user attempt to pay of his drugs debt. The defence barrister said the defendant had created a life for himself but had ruined that through his offending.
Judge Andrew Jefferies KC noted that the defendant said his debt to drug dealers was the reason he became a courier and it was on this basis that Byberi was being sentenced. The defendant was driving south on the M6 when police stopped him. (Image: Google) It was significant that the defendant, of Lisbon Street, Rochdale, had served a jail term for the same offence in 2015 and so any future convictions for similar offending would simply lead to longer and longer sentences.
A future sentence for the same offence would therefore start at a minimum seven-year sentence.
For the current offence, said Judge Jefferies, the sentence would be one of four and a half years.