Drug trafficker given seven years in prison

A drug trafficker has been jailed for seven years after being found guilty of fraudulently importing cannabis, ecstasy and amphetamines into the country using a Black Country business.

Robert Elburg, aged 52, had denied five counts of being involved in fraudulently importing the drugs to a West Bromwich freight company, but the jury returned a majority verdict of guilty to four of the counts. He was acquitted of a count of importing cannabis.

Dutch national Elburg, of no fixed address, was arrested when he went to collect boxes thought to contain advertising leaflets from freight forwarding firm Gondrand UK in the Hill Top Industrial Estate, West Bromwich, in July 2010.

Firm representatives became suspicious and alerted customs after Elburg, calling himself Mr Clark, rang repeatedly to check progress.

In police interview he claimed he did not know the cargo he was collecting contained drugs. He said he was approached by two men in Holland and asked to make the delivery. He said they told him to fly to the UK, collect items from West Bromwich and deliver them to a property in Manchester.

The drugs, brought into the country by sea and road, included 3,500 ecstasy pills, 360g of crystal ecstasy, cannabis and amphetamines. Judge Helen Hughes sentenced Elburg at

Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday to seven years in jail for each of the first two counts of fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of goods relating to cannabis and ecstasy.

She also jailed him for five years for the third count relating to crystal ecstasy and two years for the fourth count relating to amphetamines. All the sentences will run concurrently.

Judge Hughes said: "You were involved with the importation of a large quantity of drugs into this country.

"Everybody in this court room is aware of the difficulties that are experienced in this country as a result of widespread drug use.

"Not only on the users of those drugs but on society as a whole."