Mini Cooper behind massive drugs haul gets sent to scrap

Monday 10 July 2017

A man, a Mini Cooper, a ferry and £1.15m of cannabis resin - it’s not the sequel to the Italian Job, but a big drugs bust in Jersey this year.

The seizure, which took place in January, saw High Wycombe resident Shane Lee Ray (29) caught with nearly 600 bars of cannabis resin tightly packed into the roof of his modified Mini, which he had attempted to smuggle from Portsmouth to Jersey on the Condor Clipper.

He was imprisoned for six years and three months.

But now it seems the fate of the car behind the supersize haul has also been sentenced - to the scrapyard.

The vehicle was seized by Customs officials in April, after Mr Ray admitted trying to smuggle the cannabis into Jersey. 

An analysis of the 2005 silver Mini Cooper used to carry the Class C drugs found that the vehicle had racked up 102,770 miles on the odometer, and was in need of some “remedial work”. It’s value was assessed as being no more than £980.

Pictured: The Condor Clipper, on which the Mini travelled from Portsmouth to Elizabeth Terminal, Jersey.

According to the DVLA vehicle register, UK vehicle tax had not been paid on the vehicle at the time of the offence, but it did have an up-to-date MOT. 

After the owner failed to appeal the Mini Cooper’s seizure within one month, an order to scrap it was subsequently made and carried out last week.

Assistant Director for Frontiers and Customs Gary Le Neveu commented: “I can advise that vehicles used to import controlled drugs are liable to forfeiture under the Customs & Excise (Jersey) Law 1999.

“This Service may generally seize between one and four vehicles a year; if not economically viable to sell on, they are scrapped.”