Knowingly Assisting the Importation of Controlled Drugs
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002201839906300617 |
| Published date | 01 December 1999 |
| Date | 01 December 1999 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Knowingly
Assisting
the
Importation
of
Controlled
Drugs
Knowingly Assisting the Importation of Controlled Drugs
A-G's
Reference
(No
1of 1998) (1999) 163 JP 190
The respondent, together with acodefendant, was charged with being
knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of
the
prohibition on
the importation of a Class A drug,
known
popularly as Ecstasy,
the
importation of which is forbidden by s 3 of
the
Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.
A parcel posted in Amsterdam to
the
respondent's friend in Dover
contained interalia 50 tablets of the drug. The respondent
had
agreed to
'look after'
the
parcel for the friend. He did
not
know
that
the
parcel
contained
the
drug,
but
he admitted
that
he
knew
that
it might do so. He
was charged
with
'being knowingly concerned' in
the
evasion of the
prohibition contrary to s 170(2)(b) of
the
Customs and Excise Manage-
ment
Act 1979,
but
the
trial judge held
that
the
knowledge which
the
prosecution alleged
the
defendant
had
was insufficient to establish
that
he
had
been
'knowingly' concerned in
the
evasion of
the
prohibition.
The prosecution
thereupon
offered no evidence
and
he was discharged.
Under s 36 of
the
Criminal Justice Act 1972,
the
Attorney-General
referred
the
case to
the
Court of Appeal
on
apoint of law.
Section 170( 1) of the Customs
and
Excise Management Act 1979
provides
that
aperson is guilty of an offence if he knowlngly acquires
possession of:
(i) goods
the
importation of which is prohibited or
(ii) is knowingly concerned in dealing with these goods.
Subsection (2) adds
that
any
person
who
is knowingly concerned in
any fraudulent evasion of
any
prohibition or restriction shall also be
guilty of
an
offence.
The point of law -referred to
the
Court of Appeal was whether,
Where:
1. the defendant admits his willingness to assist
another
by 'looking
after'
an
imported parcel,
and
2. he knows at
the
material time
that
it might contain acontrolled
drug,
the offence contrary to s 170(2) (b) of
the
1979 Act is thereby committed.
The court, in order to
make
the
impact of its decision of wider applica-
tion, amended
the
question to read:
1.
where
adefendant admits his willingness to look after an im-
ported parcel
and
2. he knows
that
it might contain acontrolled drug and
3.
the
parcel arrives in the UK containing
the
controlled drug, is
the
stated offence committed?
The defendant averred
that
he knew
that
the
parcel would contain tapes
(for him)
and
shirts (of which he could have one)
and
'one
or two pills'
(of which he could keep one). The prosecution, having proved
that
the
parcel was from abroad
and
that
it contained drugs, was left to prove
545
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