Long jail terms for men who imported new designer drug
TWO UK men have been jailed by the Royal Court after admitting importing a new type of designer drug into the island.
The synthetic cannabinoid ADB-Butanica, which was brought to the island in liquid form, had an estimated local street value of between £51,700 and £67,000.
Jamal Williams, 29, also admitted two counts of failing to disclose to police the passwords of mobile phones, while Qasim Shafaq, 20, admitted one.
Shafaq was sentenced to three years and eight months’ youth detention for the importation with seven months, consecutive, for withholding the pass code.
Williams was jailed for five years and four months for the importation. Sentences of 10 months, concurrent to each other, but consecutive to the importation, were imposed for the phone offences, which took his total sentence to six years and two months.
The importation was carried out on 3 December 2020. Williams gave a London address when he appeared before the Magistrate’s Court the following day, while Shafaq gave one in Birmingham.
Both had been remanded in custody throughout the proceedings, which had been delayed due to the need to establish what the drug was and the purity of it.
Crown Advocate Chris Dunford told the court that the men had arrived by ferry from Portsmouth. Williams was driving a silver Mercedes.
They told Customs officers they had come to Guernsey to pick up girls who they intended to take back to the UK for a party the next day. No accommodation was booked and they said they had not realised that they would have to self-isolate for 14 days. They were carrying £160 between them.
The Mercedes had been hired the week before and Williams’s boss was paying for it.
When asked what a container with a broken seal found in the boot, marked ‘vapable vegetable glycerine’ was, Williams said his sister owned a vape shop and she must have left it there. It was later found to contain 5.58 kilos of the drug.
When one of his shoes tested positive to the presence of cocaine with an ion scan, Williams became agitated. He tried to move closer to the car, which was still being searched, and ignored social distancing measures which forced officers to have to touch him.
Williams was interviewed three times. He admitted having a drug habit but gave mostly no comment responses to questions. During the third interview he head-butted the wall three times and had to be restrained.
Shafaq said he also took drugs. He said he had never heard of synthetic cannabis, though Advocate Dunford said this was later proved to be untrue.
Williams had two mobile phones in his possession while Shafaq had one. A fourth phone was found in the vehicle, which Williams said belonged to a friend.
Advocate Dunford said this had a been a 'burner phone’ used solely in association with the importation. A number on it linked Shafaq to an address in Keighley, Yorkshire.
At 7.38pm on 2 December a message on the phone from Williams said ‘I’ll book them now,’ which Advocate Dunford said was reference to the boat tickets and there was an image of a container which the prosecution said was the one used for the importation.
GPS data tracked the car from Stansted Airport. On 2 December it was close to Shafaq’s address before going to Keighley.
The prosecution’s case was that the drugs were collected during that journey. The car was then driven through the night to Portsmouth, via a short stop at Williams’ home.
In 2018 at Chelmsford Crown Court, Williams was sentenced to three years in prison for possessing cocaine with intent to supply and possessing cannabis while Shafaq had no previous convictions.
For Shafaq, who had no previous convictions, Advocate Chris Green said his client was no more than a courier who was in debt to someone further up the chain. Threats had been made towards his family.
This was not a sophisticated importation and there had been no attempt to conceal the drugs. There was reference in the probation report to his client’s drug distribution in the UK and that was down purely to his honest admissions.
For Williams, who had been sentenced to three years in prison in the UK in 2018 for possession of cocaine with intent to supply, and possession of cannabis, Advocate Liam Roffey said his client stood to be paid £3,000 for the enterprise and a £4,000 drug debt would be written off.
This, said counsel, was a paltry sum for the years that his client would now be spending in prison. The car had not been hired for the importation, but his client’s own car had broken down.
His client did not accept the suggestion that he had tried to push past Customs when the car was being searched and said he had been merely changing his body position to get a better view. He suffered from autism and ADHD which had accounted for his outburst during the third interview.
Bailiff Richard McMahon said the men’s venture had been misguided and a recipe for disaster. The story they gave for coming to Guernsey did not help. Drugs could still be described as a scourge on society in Guernsey.
‘Zombie drug’ cause of serious health issues
THIS was the first case involving ADB Butanica to come before the Royal Court though several have been heard in the Magistrate’s Court in relation to smaller quantities.
Crown Advocate Chris Dunford said the class B-rated substance, often known as the zombie drug, had caused serious health issues across Europe, including deaths.
It was considered a replacement for cannabis though its affects on a user were unpredictable and it was more potent than the plant. It was often diluted to disguise its content.
Many users said it had given them suicidal thoughts. It was highly addictive and had long withdrawal periods. There was an increased potential for overdosing.