Pair imported more than £8k-worth of class C drugs

Horacio Virissimo, 51, and Mason Declan Thomas Smale, 24, committed the offences between October 2022 and January this year.

Virissimo initially denied the matters while Smale entered guilty pleas at the outset. The first indictment related to Virissimo only and involved six counts of importation and three of possession. All of the drugs were steroids and had a local street value of £351.

The offence came to light after packages addressed to the hotel where he was working at the time were intercepted by Customs and his accommodation was searched. Messages recovered from his mobile phone showed he knew he was acting illegally.

He was arrested and bailed. The second indictment involved five counts of joint importation, two of which related to a total of 1,200 tablets of diazepam. The rest of the drugs were steroids, including those in two counts of attempted importation and one of possession which Smale faced alone. The total value was £8,422. It was discovered in April 2023 after UK customs officers intercepted a package that was addressed to a multi-occupancy property in St Peter Port. It emerged that previous packages had gone to the same address six times.

Smale's mobile phone was seized following his arrest and evidence recovered from it implicated Virissimo. Smale initially denied all knowledge of the drugs and said he did not live at the property in question.

He later said that he and his co-defendant had met at a local gym and that Virissimo had put pressure on him to order drugs.

£1,000 in cash which was found under a mattress during a search of his room was earnings from his employment, he said.

In January this year, Virissimo was arrested at the airport after he breached a bail condition by returning three days late from a trip to his native Madeira. Some 80 tablets with a local street value of between £30 and £35 were found in his baggage.

For Virissimo, Advocate Sam Maindonald said the steroids were for her client’s own personal use and he used them to alleviate pain that stemmed from historic martial arts injuries. He was aware of the diazepam importations but said they had not been for him and assumed they must have been for one of his co-defendant’s customers.

For Smale, Advocate Samuel Steel said his client had initially refused to get involved with drug importation but eventually gave in to his co-defendant.

His motivation had not been to gain financially and his only benefit had been a vial of testosterone he had received from Virissimo each time.

The prosecution was pursuing a drug trafficking confiscation order against him only because of the £1,000 that had been found. The court was told that it was the prosecution case that having been caught importing drugs on the first occasion, Virissimo had persuaded Smale to continue doing it on his behalf.

Virissimo was jailed for a total of 18 months while the sentence in respect of Smale was 12 months. Neither had relevant previous convictions. The £1,000 was confiscated from Smale. Forfeiture and destruction of the drugs and electronic devices belonging to each defendant was also ordered.

The Royal Court will also make a recommendation to the Office of the Lt-Governor that Virissimo is deported upon his release from prison.