A 49-YEAR-OLD expat who imported around £350,000 worth of drugs into Jersey has been sent to prison for three years and nine months.
Tony Spencer arrived off the ferry from St Malo on 10 April last year with nine kilos of cannabis and 290 grams of cocaine hidden in his Jersey-registered car, the Royal Court heard yesterday.
Spencer told Customs officers that he had previously moved to Jersey and in 2020 had opened a butcher’s shop just outside Malaga, but claimed he was now looking to relocate to the Island.
Officers searched his vehicle and found a commercial vacuum heat-sealing machine of the kind used by butchers. But inside it were the cocaine and the nine kilos of cannabis in 100-gram bars.
The maximum street value of the cannabis was estimated at £279,000, while the cocaine could have fetched £71,000.
Spencer admitted placing the heat-sealing machine in his car but would not comment further, and at first pleaded not guilty to the illegal importation of drugs. However, a month later he changed his plea to guilty.
Electronic devices he had with him showed he had been searching for sites about the sentencing of drugs cases in Jersey – and ways of concealing drugs in cars.
Following his sentencing by the Superior Number – which convenes for the most serious cases – senior manager Paul Le Monnier said: “The sentence reflects the seriousness of this attempted importation.
“It also shows the high level of skill and vigilance our officers have in detecting commercial quantities of controlled drugs and dealing with those responsible.”
Commissioner Sir Michael Birt was presiding, with Jurats Dulake, Austin-Vautier, Opfermann, Berry and Ramsden sitting.
