Cocaine cruise pensioners SIXTEEN drug smuggling trips to Norway
The Mail on Sunday reports that former truck driver Roger Clarke, 72, and his wife Sue, 70, were couriers for an organized criminal group and imported cannabis with a value of £ 1 million in 15 months.
According to documents from the court that were seen by this newspaper, they gave the impression of being an elderly couple during a road trip.
After their arrest in Oslo in 2004, they skipped the bail and returned to England, where they changed their name and went to a sheltered home.
Their life on the run ended when Mr. Clarke became chairman of a residents' association and his picture appeared in a local newspaper. It led to the arrest and extradition of the couple to Norway, where they were imprisoned in 2011.
Court papers reveal that they were recruited in 2003 by a British criminal from Costa Blanca and paid a total of £ 33,000 to drive all over Europe with the cannabis hidden in a secret compartment in a Nissan's passenger door.
Roger and Sue Clarke (inset) were couriers for an organized criminal group and imported cannabis with a value of £ 1 million in 15 months
After their arrest in Oslo in 2004, they skipped the bail and returned to England, where they changed their name and went to a sheltered home.
Their life on the run ended when Mr. Clarke became chairman of a residents' association and his picture appeared in a local newspaper. It led to the arrest and extradition of the couple to Norway, where they were imprisoned in 2011.
Court papers reveal that they were recruited in 2003 by a British criminal from Costa Blanca and paid a total of £ 33,000 to drive all over Europe with the cannabis hidden in a secret compartment in a Nissan's passenger door.
Captured at sea: the English couple were arrested on the Caribbean cruise ship Marco Polo (deployment) in Lisbon after Mr Clarke's picture appeared in a local newspaper
Eleven of the trips were made from Spain, where they lived at the time. The other five were from the Netherlands. Clarke usually collected the drugs from a grocery store near Alicante.
The couple then went on their way to the German port of Kiel before making the 20-hour crossing to Oslo by ferry, where they handed over the cannabis to the Norwegian members of the gang. In total they have smuggled about 573 lb.
Mrs. Clarke was not aware of the true nature of her husband, whose real name is Roger Button, the first drugs that were performed on May 17, 2003.
They were caught in Oslo on 13 September 2004. When a tracking dog discovered drugs in their Nissan's secret compartment, Mrs. Clarke burst into tears and confessed to her husband, believing that he had a "greatly reduced punishment." would get, possibly no punishment at all.
Ms. Clarke was unaware on 17 May 2003 of the true nature of her husband's first drug race. Despite her reluctance to get involved after her husband had told her the truth, she made a choice by participating in all of the following trips.
Clarke, whose real name is Roger Button, was eventually imprisoned for almost five years and his wife spent nine months nine months.
They had been in British capacity for more than a year against extradition, and at that time Mrs. Clarke was attending her mother's funeral in handcuffs.
After the release of Mr and Mrs Clarke from the prison in Norway, they told friends in Alicante that they had been convicted of tobacco smuggling. They also started taking up to six cruises per year.
Mediterranean paradise: Sue and Roger Clarke's villa in Guardamar, Spain, where they lived for a number of years
Last week, the couple were arrested when their Caribbean cruise ship moored the Marco Polo in Lisbon, Portugal. They are accused of smuggling 20 pounds of high-quality cocaine hidden under false bottoms in their suitcases.
Fellow passengers said that during the trip Clarke went ashore on the island of St. Lucia and returned with four new things. It is said that he bragged about paying £ 160, compared to the £ 1,500 they would have cost in Harrods.
During the cannabis smuggling of the couple they lived in an apartment building just outside Torrevieja, near Alicante.
A neighbor remembered that of the many cars that Clarke used, he & a frightened old Nissan and a Honda used to be. Another said: "Susan always seemed like a nice woman, but he was not a nice man."
Via The Mail on Sunday
My view: The pretenders/pensioners who hide behind their old age to do dangerous business.