Drug smuggler jailed for 16 months over £20,000 airport cannabis haul

Gary Blackham, 43, was arrested after he arrived at Gatwick Airport on a flight from Montego Bay in Jamaica in December 2009.

Moments after he collected his suitcase from the airport’s baggage hall, he was stopped by UK Border Agency (UKBA) officers, who found almost seven kilograms of the drug stashed inside.

Blackham, of Salisbury View, Armley, Leeds, pleaded guilty to the importation of a prohibited substance.

Judge Alistair McCallum, sitting at Leeds Crown Court, yesterday sentenced him to 16 months in prison and ordered that the drugs be destroyed.

The assistant director of UKBA’s criminal and financial investigation teams, Malcolm Bragg, said officers worked “round the clock” to stop drugs flowing into the country.

“The sentence handed down today should act as a deterrent to those who attempt to smuggle illegal drugs,” he added

Blackham’s conviction brings to an end the latest in a series of police investigations into Yorkshire-based smugglers.

In February, three men were locked up for a total of 23 years after they imported cannabis worth £30m into Doncaster disguised as tractor parts.

Sheffield Crown Court heard that haulage firm boss Christopher Hodgson, 46, his son Shaun, 20, and employee Justin Organ, 37, shipped “tonnes and tonnes” of the drug from Holland.

The trio organised 20 shipments in 2008, but the enterprise was halted when UKBA officers discovered a crate on a lorry in Hull containing 430kg of cannabis worth £1.9m.

In another case, also heard in February, Leeds men Zhi Qing Cai, 34, and Jian Ming Chen, 36, were jailed for five years each for tax evasion after they imported contraband tobacco hidden in pairs of flip-flops.