Jasmin Bollinger, 19, from Freiburg in Germany, was lured into the drugs trade by a friend of an ex-boyfriend who told her she could pay her debts by driving to England.
But her trip to this country was longer than she thought because she will be spending the next six-and-a-half years in prison after admitting drug-smuggling.
Melanie McIntosh, prosecuting at Canterbury Crown Court, said Bollinger told Customs officers she was meeting her boyfriend in the London suburb of Woolwich but didn’t know his address.She said the car had been rented from a hire company and that she had been to England three times before.The 100 per cent-pure drugs were in silver packages hidden in the panels.When she was interviewed, she told officers she was given 1,000 euros to make two dummy runs to Britain.She said she was contacted by a man in Freiburg who told her to go to Amsterdam.Bollinger met the man in the Dutch city and he drove her car away. It was returned two hours later and she drove to catch the Ramsgate ferry at Ostend.She was worried she was carrying something illegal but couldn’t find it after a thorough search, so she drove on.
“When I asked what was in the car, I was told to ask no questions,” she told investigators.Bollinger said she was afraid of the men who sent her on her mission – that’s why she carried on driving.Nicholas Jones, defending, said the drugs trade attracted young, naive people who wanted to earn easy money.At first Bollinger thought she was taking money out of Germany.Mr Jones said: “Like many young students, she found herself in debt. She was approached by a friend of a friend and in an act of catstrophic stupidity she agreed to smuggle drugs.”Mr Jones said family friends were horrified that she had got herself in trouble. When she heard of the tough sentence she could face, she was horrified.He said: “She faces the best years of her life in custody. She is genuinely remorseful and it has taken a great deal of courage to admit her part in the smuggling plot.”
But her trip to this country was longer than she thought because she will be spending the next six-and-a-half years in prison after admitting drug-smuggling.
Melanie McIntosh, prosecuting at Canterbury Crown Court, said Bollinger told Customs officers she was meeting her boyfriend in the London suburb of Woolwich but didn’t know his address.She said the car had been rented from a hire company and that she had been to England three times before.The 100 per cent-pure drugs were in silver packages hidden in the panels.When she was interviewed, she told officers she was given 1,000 euros to make two dummy runs to Britain.She said she was contacted by a man in Freiburg who told her to go to Amsterdam.Bollinger met the man in the Dutch city and he drove her car away. It was returned two hours later and she drove to catch the Ramsgate ferry at Ostend.She was worried she was carrying something illegal but couldn’t find it after a thorough search, so she drove on.
“When I asked what was in the car, I was told to ask no questions,” she told investigators.Bollinger said she was afraid of the men who sent her on her mission – that’s why she carried on driving.Nicholas Jones, defending, said the drugs trade attracted young, naive people who wanted to earn easy money.At first Bollinger thought she was taking money out of Germany.Mr Jones said: “Like many young students, she found herself in debt. She was approached by a friend of a friend and in an act of catstrophic stupidity she agreed to smuggle drugs.”Mr Jones said family friends were horrified that she had got herself in trouble. When she heard of the tough sentence she could face, she was horrified.He said: “She faces the best years of her life in custody. She is genuinely remorseful and it has taken a great deal of courage to admit her part in the smuggling plot.”
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