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Aus - Cash-strapped Brit cruised into cocaine bust
Heavy-handed loan sharks, a cruise ship called Aurora, a friendly couple named Pete and Sheila, and Sherlock the sniffer dog.
Those are all at the centre of the case of British national Ronald Fletcher, who smuggled 30 kilograms of cocaine to Sydney on a P&O ship in February 2012.
Mr Fletcher, 60, has pleaded guilty to importing a commercial quantity of a border-protected drug, some of which he carried in a wetsuit under his clothes when he got off the ship.
He told Downing Centre District Court that he borrowed £35,000 ($51,000) from loan sharks in Britain, and after they started threatening him and his family they told him he had to work for them.
"I was in trouble with these people for a lot of money," Mr Fletcher said at his sentencing hearing on Friday.
"I was just told I'd go on this ship for this cruise and somebody would meet me telling me what to do."
Mr Fletcher said he assumed he was going to have to carry a "hashish drug".
As the ship left Auckland two people named Pete and Sheila gave him the drugs and instructions on how to carry them, Mr Fletcher said.
Police arrested him at the Overseas Passenger Terminal in Circular Quay, helped by a sniffer dog named Sherlock, as he carried about five kilograms of the drugs under his clothes.
Mr Fletcher said he first told officers he wasn't carrying anything, and the dog might have picked him out because he was "playing with myself" the night before.
He eventually told them he was carrying drugs under the wetsuit, the court heard.
Asked by his barrister, David Dalton, SC, whether he regretted what he'd done, Mr Fletcher said: "I'm dreadfully sorry and remorseful that I ever got involved in anything as ridiculous as this.
"In hindsight, I wish I'd just taken a beating."
Kay Marinos, for the Commonwealth DPP, asked Mr Fletcher if he was lying.
"I would suggest you're making this story up about this loan shark ... to try to excuse your criminal conduct in this matter," Ms Marinos said.
"Absolutely wrong," Mr Fletcher said.
"You know that trying to say that you did this involuntarily would potentially reduce your sentence," she said.
"I didn't know that, no."
Ms Marinos asked him whether he ever thought it was an elaborate and expensive plan apparently made by the loan sharks.
"To be honest, everything in Australia is expensive," Mr Fletcher said.
Mr Fletcher agreed he had assets in Britain, including a house worth more than £200,000, and went on a holiday to the US after taking out the loan.
He said he had a "reasonable time" on the cruise, spending money at the spa and bar and visited a famous former jail when the ship stopped in San Francisco.
"I went to Alcatraz, which I probably shouldn't have done to be honest."
Mr Fletcher, who has been in custody since his arrest, will be sentenced at a later date.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/cashstrap...ocaine-bust-20130412-2hq0l.html#ixzz2QE66a45I
Heavy-handed loan sharks, a cruise ship called Aurora, a friendly couple named Pete and Sheila, and Sherlock the sniffer dog.
Those are all at the centre of the case of British national Ronald Fletcher, who smuggled 30 kilograms of cocaine to Sydney on a P&O ship in February 2012.
Mr Fletcher, 60, has pleaded guilty to importing a commercial quantity of a border-protected drug, some of which he carried in a wetsuit under his clothes when he got off the ship.
He told Downing Centre District Court that he borrowed £35,000 ($51,000) from loan sharks in Britain, and after they started threatening him and his family they told him he had to work for them.
"I was in trouble with these people for a lot of money," Mr Fletcher said at his sentencing hearing on Friday.
"I was just told I'd go on this ship for this cruise and somebody would meet me telling me what to do."
Mr Fletcher said he assumed he was going to have to carry a "hashish drug".
As the ship left Auckland two people named Pete and Sheila gave him the drugs and instructions on how to carry them, Mr Fletcher said.
Police arrested him at the Overseas Passenger Terminal in Circular Quay, helped by a sniffer dog named Sherlock, as he carried about five kilograms of the drugs under his clothes.
Mr Fletcher said he first told officers he wasn't carrying anything, and the dog might have picked him out because he was "playing with myself" the night before.
He eventually told them he was carrying drugs under the wetsuit, the court heard.
Asked by his barrister, David Dalton, SC, whether he regretted what he'd done, Mr Fletcher said: "I'm dreadfully sorry and remorseful that I ever got involved in anything as ridiculous as this.
"In hindsight, I wish I'd just taken a beating."
Kay Marinos, for the Commonwealth DPP, asked Mr Fletcher if he was lying.
"I would suggest you're making this story up about this loan shark ... to try to excuse your criminal conduct in this matter," Ms Marinos said.
"Absolutely wrong," Mr Fletcher said.
"You know that trying to say that you did this involuntarily would potentially reduce your sentence," she said.
"I didn't know that, no."
Ms Marinos asked him whether he ever thought it was an elaborate and expensive plan apparently made by the loan sharks.
"To be honest, everything in Australia is expensive," Mr Fletcher said.
Mr Fletcher agreed he had assets in Britain, including a house worth more than £200,000, and went on a holiday to the US after taking out the loan.
He said he had a "reasonable time" on the cruise, spending money at the spa and bar and visited a famous former jail when the ship stopped in San Francisco.
"I went to Alcatraz, which I probably shouldn't have done to be honest."
Mr Fletcher, who has been in custody since his arrest, will be sentenced at a later date.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/cashstrap...ocaine-bust-20130412-2hq0l.html#ixzz2QE66a45I
