First picture of Wren accused of stowing £5m cocaine on warship

A Royal Navy Wren smuggled cocaine worth £5million into the UK on a warship after a tour of duty in South America, a court heard yesterday.

Teresa Matos, 36, is said to have stashed 26lb of the drug in her locker on board HMS Manchester.

She was arrested in Plymouth after the cocaine was found in packages sewn into vests and around rucksacks.

Matos, who has served in the navy for two years, is believed to have been targeted after a tip-off to Royal Navy police.

The drugs haul would have a street value of £5million once it was ‘cut’ or bulked out with additives.

Matos, an Angolan, is understood to have arrived in Britain from Africa with her sister five years ago. She joined the navy after gaining UK citizenship.

She settled in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear. However, her neighbours said they rarely see her because she is often at sea. Matos, an Angolan, is understood to have arrived in Britain from Africa with her sister five years ago. She joined the navy after gaining UK citizenship.

Her latest tour in HMS Manchester involved anti-drugs training in a part of the world renowned for its narcotics industry.

While she was there, Matos did charity work and spent time with children from an orphanage in Peru.

The Royal Navy website describes her as ‘Logs CS Matos’, referring to her role in logistics and the catering service.

It tells how she was proud to help renovate buildings in Rio de Janeiro, halfway through the ship’s seven month deployment.

She is quoted as saying: ‘I really enjoyed the experience and I am looking forward to doing some similar charity work not only in Brazil but in other countries.’

Yesterday, Matos spoke only to confirm her name when she appeared via videolink from custody.

Plymouth Magistrates’ Court heard Matos joined the Navy in 2007 and had an ‘unblemished record’.

She had spent the last seven months at sea in HMS Manchester, which stopped off in the Falklands,

Peru and Brazil before visiting Colombia’s Caribbean coast for anti-drug training.

After her arrest the investigation was handed over to the Serious Organised Crime Agency, which has since arrested three civilians from the London area in connection with the find.

They appeared in court in Portsmouth last week charged with the importation of controlled drugs.

Her latest tour in HMS Manchester involved anti-drugs training... A spokesman said: ‘Following a search aboard HMS Manchester, a junior rating was discovered to be in possession of a suspected quantity of Class A drugs.

‘She was arrested by Royal Navy police on August 10 and handed over to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in Plymouth during a planned anchorage.’

He added: ‘This is a quantity indicative of a large criminal enterprise involving many, many people.

‘Taking into account HMS Manchester visited Colombia during its last voyage before entering Plymouth, it seems this is part of an international drug smuggling operation.’

Neighbours of Matos in Gateshead said she had lived there for around four years, during which time she had various jobs including working as a hotel chambermaid.

Albert Bell, 57, said: ‘I have known Teresa for around four years and have become good friends.

‘When she first came here her English was terrible but it has improved immensely.

‘She had not passed her British citizenship test when she arrived but once she did she joined the navy immediately. continues here

So there you have it, a foreigner can enter the country ,apply for nationality and join HMAF almost immediately, aside from the threat to the general public presented by avaricious drug-smugglers ,dealers and suchlike, surely even a fool could see that permitting an unknown individual into HMAF presents as a very great threat to national security. It would seem that “the agenda” supersedes even that and we ,the people are to be placed at severe risk in all areas, certainly this government fails in its duty of care, yet you vote for them…

Pregnant British woman jailed in Laos for heroin trafficking arrives back at Heathrow

A pregnant British woman jailed in Laos for trafficking heroin has arrived back in the UK today to serve out her sentence in a British jail.

Samantha Orobator was flown into London's Heathrow Airport from the capital Vientiane just before seven o'clock today.

Orobator, 20, from south London, was given a life sentence after admitting drug smuggling - and would have faced the death penalty had she not gotten herself pregnant while in jail.



She will now serve out the rest of her sentence in a tax-payer funded British jail and give birth under the NHS.

It costs the British taxpayer £77 a night to keep a prisoner in a category B British jail.

It is still not known how Orobator got pregnant while in the Laos jail. There are suspicions she made herself pregnant through sperm donated by another prison or a guard in order to escape the death penalty.

Orobator has been in jail in Laos for 12 months.She was met by a waiting prison van as she got off the morning flight.

Wearing a white beanie and loose trousers, she laughed as she stepped on to the tarmac, along with three travel companions.

Uniformed police stood by as she was led into the van taking her to Holloway prison.

Her return to the UK comes in time for the birth of her child which is due next month.

Yesterday Foreign Office Minister Chris Bryant said of her imminent return: 'This is excellent news.

'Of course, we do not condone any crimes involving illegal drugs. We work around the world to combat the use of illegal drugs.

'I spend much of my time warning British tourists of the dangers of using drugs in countries such as Laos, which have heavy penalties for these crimes.

'Samantha will serve her term in a British penal establishment. But I saw for myself Samantha's advanced state of pregnancy when I visited her in prison last week.

'The transfer means that Samantha will give birth in the UK, close to her relatives and under UK medical care. This is clearly the best outcome for all - not least her unborn child.'

She will now serve out the rest of her sentence in a tax-payer funded British jail and give birth under the NHS.

It costs the British taxpayer £77 a night to keep a prisoner in a category B British jail.

It is still not known how Orobator got pregnant while in the Laos jail. There are suspicions she made herself pregnant through sperm donated by another prison or a guard in order to escape the death penalty.

Orobator has been in jail in Laos for 12 months.She was met by a waiting prison van as she got off the morning flight.

Wearing a white beanie and loose trousers, she laughed as she stepped on to the tarmac, along with three travel companions.

Uniformed police stood by as she was led into the van taking her to Holloway prison.

Her return to the UK comes in time for the birth of her child which is due next month.

Yesterday Foreign Office Minister Chris Bryant said of her imminent return: 'This is excellent news.

'Of course, we do not condone any crimes involving illegal drugs. We work around the world to combat the use of illegal drugs.

'I spend much of my time warning British tourists of the dangers of using drugs in countries such as Laos, which have heavy penalties for these crimes.

'Samantha will serve her term in a British penal establishment. But I saw for myself Samantha's advanced state of pregnancy when I visited her in prison last week.

'The transfer means that Samantha will give birth in the UK, close to her relatives and under UK medical care. This is clearly the best outcome for all - not least her unborn child.'



Her mother, Jane Orobator, was flying into London from Dublin in the hope of seeing her daughter.

She said: 'I just want her to come back to the UK, that is my first desire. One step at a time, I just want her to have her baby here.'

Laos foreign ministry spokesman Khenthong Nuanthasing said Orobator's return was a humanitarian gesture which took her pregnancy into account.

He added: 'To my understanding, she is fine. The doctor keeps an eye on her. Both the officials from the UK and from Laos have taken care of her, particularly her health.'

Clive Stafford-Smith, director of Reprieve, said she should be allowed access to independent lawyers on her return. continues here



Above the reprehensible Orobator an immigrant to this country and a menace to the Laotian people and indeed our own, now Orobator doesn’t belong here, she was born in Nigeria and like millions of others she came to Europe with her parents to steal our assets ,to avail herself of our resources. Not enough it seems because Orobator became a drug smuggler, seeking to make financial gain from the misery of others, yet to cap it all she is treated as some sort of minor celebrity, as if she is a heroin(excuse the pun) and our foreign office go all out to cater to her needs, perhaps there is a lesson for you all .all you law-abiding, perhaps after all crime pays. In the future Orobators child will be born ,perhaps he or she will aspire be an architect, they all seem to, yet the likelihood is that her offspring will also prey off society, cost the taxpayer dearly and be a detrimental element within society, send them home, each and every one.

Should Orobator be sent back to her native Nigeria?

One million users make Britain cocaine capital of Europe - UN report

Britain is the cocaine capital of Europe with more than one million users while one in 20 school children have tried it, according to the United Nations drugs report.

Three per cent of 15 and 16 year-olds even claim to have tried crack cocaine, the report found.Cocaine is shipped here via the Caribbean or - increasingly - the west coast of Africa.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime also found four per cent of youngsters have taken ecstasy and almost three in ten have tried cannabis.

In absolute numbers, the UK is the largest market for cocaine across Europe and has the second highest prevalence rate - 2.3 per cent - behind Spain.

However, the quality of the Class A drug has declined dramatically in recent years, which the UN attributes to a crackdown on traffickers pushing prices up and leading dealers to cut the drug more.

Some seizures by police revealed substances being passed off as cocaine that were only five per cent pure.

The UN found dealers diluting their product with cutting agents such as dental and veterinary anaesthetics that mimic the effects of cocaine but are much cheaper.

The World Drug Report 2009 revealed that cocaine use increased dramatically in the UK from the mid-90s, but remained stable over the last two years.

Dr Sandeep Chawla, lead author of the report, said: "If you take year and on year there seems to be a decline in this market but there is considerable cause for concern as the UK has still in absolute terms the largest numbers in Europe."

The report also found five per cent of 15-16 year-olds in the UK have tried cocaine.

Chris Grayling, Shadow Home Secretary, said: "This is a really depressing snap shot of the drugs problem in the UK and underlines just how ineffective the Government's strategy on dealing with the drug problem has been."

Data given to the UN by the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) shows wholesale prices have risen to record levels.

The cost of a kilogram of cocaine has increased by 50 per cent from £30,000 to £45,000 since 2007.

There are estimated to be 860,000 cocaine users in England and Wales and around 140,000 in Northern Ireland and Scotland combined.

The report states: "The UK thus continues to be - in absolute numbers - Europe's largest cocaine market, with its second highest cocaine use prevalence rate."

The report revealed a concentration of "problem drug users" in the capital, with around a quarter of all problem users in the UK living in London - a total of 74,000 people. continues here

'Drug-smuggling' Briton became pregnant IN Laos jail... and now she won't face the firing squad

A pregnant British woman accused of trafficking heroin in Laos will not face the death penalty because the law bans executing expectant convicts, a Laotian government spokesman has said.

Foreign ministry spokesman Khenthong Nuanthasing also said the trial of 20-year-old Samantha Orobator would not be held until next week so that an 'appropriate lawyer' could be found to defend her.

It had been expected to start this week and there were fears that Miss Orobator might face death by firing squad.

'It might take some time,' Mr Khenthong said from the capital Vientiane.

He said that the justice ministry was compiling a list of lawyers - who must be Lao nationals - from which she could choose.

The circumstances of Ms Orobator's pregnancy remained unclear, though a Laos government spokesman said that she told authorities in an interview after her arrest that she had become pregnant with her boyfriend.

The British legal charity Reprieve, however, said Ms Orobator was currently five months pregnant - meaning she became pregnant while in prison.

Director Clive Stafford Smith has written to Foreign Secretary David Miliband asking him to intervene to ensure Ms Orobator got independent legal advice.

He said: 'We are all glad to see that the Laotians have recognised that their own law forbids executing Samantha by firing squad.

'But this is only a first, belated step forward. It was cruel to allow Samantha to think she might be shot for all these months, and the Laotians knew all along that she needed a lawyer.

'What they did not know is the international outrage that the case would cause. It seems that by delaying they now hope that the media will lose interest in Samantha's plight.'

He also criticised reports that Laotian officials had claimed Ms Orobator was already pregnant when she was arrested.

He said: 'Samantha is due on September 6, 2009, when she will have been in prison for 13 months.

'Perhaps the Laotians are under the misapprehension that she is a blue whale, that has a 13 month gestation period, but she is not, she is a human being.'

The charity also released details of a US Department of State report from 2008 that described prison conditions in Laos as 'generally harsh and occasionally life-threatening'.

Phonthong prison has a reputation for beatings and brutality. There has been no comment on whether she was raped in prison.

Ms Orobator has been in the prison since August on charges of smuggling 1.5lb of heroin.
Today a human rights lawyer and a British diplomat were both refused access to Ms Orobator, 20.

Anna Morris, a lawyer for fair trials group Reprieve, was due to see Ms Orobator for the first time after flying to Laos over the weekend but, along with the British Embassy official, was denied access to her.

Khenthong Nuanthasing, a Lao government spokesman, told The Times that he believed that the trial would now be postponed until next week 'due to the issue that we need a lawyer for her'.

'Another provision of the law also provides that any pregnant (woman) will not be sentenced to the death penalty,' said Mr Khenthong, adding that the judge would decide on the sentence at the trial.

Britain has no diplomatic presence in the Communist south-east Asian country and there is no precedent for a drug case involving a Briton, making negotiations with the authorities difficult.

Ms Morris said she was concerned that a trial would not meet the judicial standards of most countries.

'She hasn't been appointed a lawyer yet and that has been our concern,' she said. 'We are concerned that any hearing may be quite quick in comparison to what would happen in other countries.'

Ms Morris, who arrived on Sunday in the Laotian capital Vientiane, said she had been granted permission to meet Ms Orobator today.

The British vice-consul from Bangkok in neighbouring Thailand flew into Laos yesterday and also hoped to see Ms Orobator today.

Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell plans to raise the case when he meets the deputy prime minister of Laos on Thursday.

'We are primarily concerned with ensuring that she gets a fair trial and avoids the death penalty,' said a Government source.

A spokesman later confirmed: 'We have been pressing the Laos authorities to ensure Samantha has got legal representation.'

Laos government spokesman Khenthong Nuanthasing insisted yesterday that the trial would be carried out fairly.

'The trial is expected to be held this week but I don't know the exact dates,' he said, adding that it was up to the judge.

Ms Orobator was born in Nigeria and moved to London to live with her aunt from the age of eight. She lived in Camberwell and Peckham before leaving the country to travel to Ireland, Holland and Thailand. She was arrested at Laos airport on her way back to the UK.

Her mother, Jane Orobator, a student at Trinity College, Dublin, broke down yesterday as she said: 'I just want them to bring her back to me. I'm really terrified. I have been crying my eyes out.'

The only communication she has received from her daughter was a letter fed through the Australian embassy in January asking for a blanket, black pepper, soap, a mosquito net, candles and matches.

Since 2003, at least 39 people have been sentenced to death in Laos but the last known execution was in 1990. None of the convicts was a foreign national. continues here

Pregnant Briton 'faces execution'

A pregnant British woman faces death by firing squad if she is convicted of smuggling drugs at a trial in Laos, campaigners have said.

Prosecutors claim Samantha Orobator, 20, was in possession of 1.5lb (680g) of heroin when she was arrested at Wattay airport in Laos in August.

Legal charity Reprieve has called on the UK government to intervene with the Laotian authorities on her behalf.

The Foreign Office says it is "paying close attention to her welfare".

Miss Orobator, from London, has been held since her arrest at Phonthong prison in the south east Asian country. She became pregnant in the prison in December and is due to give birth in September.

In Laos, anyone caught with more than 1lb (500g) of heroin faces a mandatory death sentence.

Reprieve legal director Clive Stafford Smith said that on Thursday the authorities in Laos announced that they were bringing forward her trial by around a year to next week.

He believes the decision to move the trial was only taken after arrangements were made for her to see a lawyer for the first time.

He said: "It's pretty shocking that they would do that apparently to avoid her seeing a British lawyer before she has to go to trial.

"The notion that no lawyer should be appointed to defend her is outrageous."

He said she was "certainly not guilty" and had originally told police the drugs were not hers.

Mr Stafford Smith added: "We're dealing with a woman who has clearly become pregnant in prison. Nothing that happens in that prison is voluntary".

Labour MP Stephen Pound, vice chair of the all party group on the death penalty, said Miss Orobator was being kept "in the most inhumane circumstances".

He criticised conditions in the prison saying there was evidence of "no space, no light, no exercise, no diet, no food, no consideration of the needs of a woman carrying a baby".

There is no British Embassy in Laos and the nearest is in the Thai capital, Bangkok.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We are paying close attention to her welfare and are in discussion with the Laotian authorities about her case.

"We have visited Samantha every month and we have kept in close contact with the family."

She said Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Minister Bill Rammell will raise the issue with the Laotian foreign minister when he visits the UK on 7 May.

But Mr Stafford Smith fears that could be too late.

He said: "The trial will be over by then. We're calling on the government to do everything in its power".

He wants the trial to be put back and for Reprieve lawyers and mental health professionals to be allowed into the prison. He is also seeking assurances that Miss Orobator will be provided with a proper defence.

Miss Orobator was born in Nigeria but lived in south London from the age of eight. Her father lives in Nigeria and her mother and three sisters live in Ireland.
continues here

So there you have it, diplomatic efforts for a drug smuggler, I have to commend the Laotians for their anti-drugs policy, after all drugs kill and the importation or dealing of them, is the same as firing a loaded gun amongst a crowd of people, someone somewhere is going to die, far better it be these reprehensible scourges on society, drug-dealers, importers and criminals.

Such diplomatic effort to free a drug-smuggler and her of other climes, what about the harm to the Laotian people through the injurious affects caused by drugs, they say Miss Orobator is innocent, what else would she say, what would you, faced with a death sentence. Hopefully readers viewing this, would take a similar stance in relation to drugs, drugs and nationalism do not mix and should ever a nationalist government come to power, then drug-dealers and other assorted parasites would have cause to fear. As for her being British ,well...

Ex-England cricket star Chris Lewis 'smuggled £200,000 of cocaine into Gatwick'

In recent years both Heathrow and Gatwick Airports have been recognised as 'drugs hubs' used by Caribbean smugglers. It is estimated that almost half the cocaine sold in Britain comes from Jamaica.

Former England cricketer Chris Lewis appeared in court yesterday charged with trying to smuggle £200,000-worth of cocaine hidden in tins of fruit into Gatwick. 

Lewis, 40, played 32 tests and 53 one-day internationals as an all rounder in the Nineties and was once hailed as an heir to Ian Botham. 

He was arrested on Monday morning with basketball player Chad Kirnon, 26, after Border Agency staff allegedly found nearly 9lb of the drug in their luggage. 

The cocaine, apparently in liquid form, was allegedly discovered in a routine search just after they arrived at 6am on a Virgin flight from St Lucia in the Caribbean. 

Friends spoke of their shock at his appearance yesterday at Crawley Magistrates' Court in West Sussex, where the two were remanded in custody until next week. 

Lewis said nothing during the short hearing and was refused bail by chairman Elaine Richards due to the 'nature and seriousness' of the alleged offence and because such a 'large quantity' of the drug was said to be involved there was a risk Lewis might abscond if bailed. 

The alleged large quantity of drugs also suggested a potential link with 'international crime'. 

Lewis, who was born in Guyana, South America, was one of several all-rounders brought in to revitalise the struggling England team in the Nineties. 

But having failed to fulfil his potential, he drifted through the county game in a career that was plagued by injury. 

Yesterday it emerged that he had spent the last few years living in a housing association flat in North London after trying to resurrect his career last summer by rejoining Surrey to play Twenty20 cricket. 

Lewis - who came to Britain at ten - claimed 93 wickets during his England Test career and finished with a Test batting average of 23. 

He retired from county cricket in 2000 because of a persistent hip injury after spells with Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Surrey. 

Nadeem Shahid, 39, a former Surrey colleague and now coach at the county club, said: 'Chris played for us in the summer and was his normal self. 

'His work ethic was top drawer and he was determined to do well. 

'I did not feel he had any problems like money worries. He was always professional. This has come as a complete shock.'



Lewis believed he was 'driven out' of county cricket after alleging that three England team-mates had taken bribes to throw matches.

The claim was never substantiated and he was later jeered by crowds and snubbed by players before ending his career at just 32.

After drifting out of the first-class game he spent several years playing league cricket and had recently been coaching schoolchildren.

Yesterday Cherise Kirnon, 23, the sister of Lewis's co-defendant, told of her 'complete shock' over the charges faced by her brother.

Speaking from the flat in Islington, North London, where Kirnon lives with his mother Carol and 14-year- old brother Charles, she added: 'Chad just suddenly announced about ten days ago that something had come up and he was flying to the Caribbean.

'He did not say what he would be doing there or exactly where he was going. I did not know when he was due back. I cannot believe what has happened.'

Miss Kirnon, who came to Britain with her brother and their family from the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean, added that Kirnon did 'not even smoke' and that she did not know Chris Lewis.

She said: 'Chad used to play basketball for the London Towers team. He has been playing for a Somalian team recently.

'He is unemployed at the moment and was planning to do a course to become a plumber. But that was going to cost about £10,000 and he did not have that sort of money.'

Lewis and Kirnon will appear at Mid Sussex Magistrates' Court in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, via video link next Wednesday. continues here