Paulette Chambers and her mother Ambrozine Heron, were caught with a car full of the drug as they tried to drive through Dover ferry port

Paulette Chambers and her mother Ambrozine Heron, were caught with a car full of the drug as they tried to drive through Dover ferry port in March this year. Heron’s adapted Nissan Pathfinder was stopped by customs officials who discovered 40 food tins containing pure cocaine. Customs had become suspicious after the Pathfinder had made 14 trips to Holland to collect their shipments. It is thought Jamaican-born Heron, from Smethwick, West Midlands, was used as a cover for a major drug smuggling operation run by her daughter. Heron, who suffers from asthma, diabetes and arthritis, was stopped at Dover by customs officials already suspicious by the number of trips the Pathfinder had made to the continent since October last year. Sniffer dogs found two shopping bags on the back row of seats and investigators found 40 tins of palm oil containing the drugs worth just over £1 million.
She now faces a lengthy prison sentence after being found guilty of the importation of Class A drugs at Canterbury Crown Court. Her daughter has already admitted her part in the smuggling operation. Edmund Anderson, a 47-year-old security guard was acquitted of any involvement. He allegedly told customs officers he had been on a three-day Easter holiday shopping trip in the south of France with the two women, but he allegedly later changed his story to claim he was just acting as a taxi driver for them. Despite the confusion of details, he was found innocent of being involved in the drug smuggling operation. The grandmother claimed Chambers had been having an affair with Mr Anderson, something he vehemently denied.
He told the court he had no idea what went on after dropping the pair off at a flat in Almera, near Amsterdam. When questioned by police, Heron denied drug smuggling.
She said: “I don’t know anything about that. “I just went with my daughter. I didn’t ask any questions because I’m not a nosy person. “I don’t smoke or drink. What am I doing with drugs?” Heron had lived in the Midlands since she arrived from Jamaica in 1949, and had never been in trouble with the police previously.
The prosecution earlier this month told the court it found a Lloyds TSB bank account used by Chambers. It was found to have had more than £81,000 put into it a month before she was stopped at Dover. Police also found she had a Visa card in the company name of Everol Electricals. It was registered to the same address as her TSB account and had nearly £100,000 cash held in it between December 2007 and March 2008. Prosecutor Quentin Hunt said the bank accounts contained the proceeds from the group’s enterprise as drug traffickers. Both women will be sentenced next month.