Man jailed for role in European-wide drugs conspiracy

    Photo Credit - GMP

    A man who was part of a European-wide conspiracy to import over £6m worth of drugs into the UK has been extradited from New Zealand and sentenced to prison.

    Franciscus Maria Schaapveld (18/08/1957) of no fixed address, was sentenced at Manchester Crown Square after pleading guilty to conspiracy to evade the prohibition on the importation of Class A and B drugs.  

    An operation by Greater Manchester Police's Serious Crime Division focused on several incidents between March and November 2012. One of these incidents took place on 21 April 2012 and saw a HGV driven by Schaapveld, purportedly carrying plastic pellets, stopped by officers from UK Border Force as it returned from Holland and Belgium.  

    A search of the lorry revealed a sophisticated hidden compartment in the roof of the trailer, from which 160kg of amphetamine and 6kg of cocaine, destined for the streets of the North West, were seized. The street value of the drugs was more than £6m.  

    Schaapveld was jailed for four years and six months.

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