Seatbelt traps drugs courier (From Western Telegraph)

Seatbelt traps drugs courier

A DOZY drugs courier has been jailed after forgetting to wear his car seatbelt.

Raymond Scott Miller, aged 25, placed 20 nine ounce bars of cannabis worth £12,600 behind a plastic panel in the back of his Ford.

The drugs were so well hidden in the bodywork of the car it took a police sniffer dog to find them.

But Miller forgot to put on his seatbelt and found himself being pulled over by police on routine patrol.

Janet Gedrych, prosecuting, said Miller, of Dimond Street, Pembroke Dock, ran into trouble on the M4 on his way home.

Miller got out of his vehicle and approached the police car 'nervous and sweating' and officers suspected they had stumbled across something.

Miller made a second mistake of tearing off a small piece of cannabis and putting it behind his driver's seat. As soon as the officers approached they could smell drugs.

The officers also found Miller was carrying £1,300 in cash.

Miller admitted possessing cannabis with a street value of £12,600 with intent to supply. He pleaded guilty on the basis that he was a courier for a dealer and would have been paid £400 for delivering the drugs.

His barrister, Ian Wright, told Swansea crown court that Miller, a landscape gardener, had been using drugs since the age of 11.

Judge Keith Thomas said the haul was 'substantial' and couriers 'lend valuable assistance in the distribution of drugs across Wales'.

He said the sentence should be one that would deter others from becoming involved. Miller was jailed for 22 months.