Smugglers 'Drove Fake Ambulance To Smuggle £38m Of Cocaine And Heroin'

A pair of Dutch smugglers drove a fake ambulance "rammed" with £38 million of cocaine and heroin as part of an elaborate smuggling plot - a court was told.

Leonardus Bijlsma and Dennis Vogelaar are alleged to have used bogus paramedic uniforms while pretending to transfer a patient from the Netherlands to a London hospital.

Robert Davies, prosecuting, told a jury the pair were part of an "organised criminal gang" who attempted to sneak "a massive haul of drugs" under the noses of British police.



He said 193kg of cocaine and 74kg of heroin were stashed inside specially-made compartments in the back of the ambulance.

Mr Davies, said: "In truth the ambulance was rammed with drugs."

The ambulance was seized by officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) who arrested Bijlsma, Vogelaar and two other men when the group met up in Smethwick in the West Midlands on June 16.

Both men were later charged with conspiracy to smuggle class A drugs into the UK, between April 2014 and summer this year.

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