Officers' intuition and training led to £0.5million drug seize

Monday 01 July 2019

Guernsey Border Agency Officers know what to look for when people arrive in the island, and that allows them to catch those trying to break the law, according to one of the island's senior officers.

Surveyor Rebecca Falla was speaking following the Royal Court sentencing of a 53-year-old man who was given a seven year prison term after he was caught trying to bring 20kg of cannabis resin into Guernsey from St Malo.

Darren Dixon was driving off a Condor ferry on 29 March this year when he was pulled over to have his Jaguar searched. Officers found 205 individually wrapped packages of the class B drug. 

Rebecca Falla, Surveyor at the GBA, with the drugs they seized from Darren Dixon. 

Speaking while sentencing Dixon on Friday, Judge Russell Finch said this was the first case of this size to have come before Guernsey's Courts for some time now. Ms Falla agreed, saying the number of big drug seizures had reduced in recent years.

"You could be of the thought process that we have been doing a good job, creating a deterrent for people trying to import drugs into Guernsey, but there are other reasons. Obviously when you bring in amounts like that the stakes are higher, and the demand for drugs is changing locally as different demand arises," she said.

"This case involved the importation of 20kg of cannabis resin into the island by a vehicle. Customs Officers stopped it at the port, and using their powers they searched the vehicle and the person driving and found the drugs concealed within.

"Customs Officers are trained to ID people coming in to the island who are potentially bringing in substances that they are not allowed to. They use their powers to do that, questions them, and stop and search them."

Darren Dixon was caught with half a million pounds worth of cannabis resin. 

Dixon had two previous convictions which may have brought him to the attention of Customs, but both of the crimes - for which he served short prison stints - took place in the UK in the 90s. Now, he lives in Spain. 

Ms Falla said another dimension of their job was trying to prevent drugs coming in to the island to stop people - even if it is a minority - coming to harm because of them. 

"Customs Officers are employed to do this very thing, and the removal of the potential harm from the streets is very important for us as well," she added, "the drugs will be destroyed in line with the court order."

The GBA's cross-border HQ. 

Dixon was sentenced to seven years in prison, and the prosecution and conviction was very rewarding for Ms Falla and her team, she said. 

To read more about how he was caught and what he was doing, click here.