A woman who smuggled a cache of firearms, ammunition and heroin into the UK has been jailed for nine years following an investigation by the National Crime Agency.
Kasha Sanderson, 40, from Wick in Bristol, was stopped on 24 February last year as she drove an Irish-registered Peugeot 3008 into tourist controls at Dover Eastern Docks after arriving on a ferry from Calais. When questioned, she told officers she had been scattering ashes in Lyon, France.
Border Force officers searched the vehicle and discovered two custom-built hides in the footwells containing 13 weapons, including two Skorpion submachine guns, an Uzi submachine gun, a Glock handgun and nine converted blank-firing pistols. Officers also found 289 rounds of ammunition and around 5kg of heroin with an estimated street value of £500,000.
Sanderson was arrested and later told investigators she believed she had been transporting cannabis. She admitted offences relating to smuggling firearms, ammunition and Class A drugs and was sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court.
Rachel Bramley, NCA Branch Commander, said the seizure prevented dangerous weapons from reaching organised criminals. “Thanks to a brilliant detection by our Border Force partners and the NCA investigation these terrifying weapons and ammunition are out of the hands of extremely dangerous criminals,” she said.
She added: “Firearms crime in the UK is among the lowest in the world, but these guns had the potential to cause horrific damage. With Sanderson’s jailing, the organised crime group behind this smuggling plot have lost a trusted courier and profits they are unable to plough back into further offences.”
9 years seems quite low… mebbe this dippy individual, was acting as the ‘fallguy’, protecting a bf or some drug kingpin wannabe.