A DUTCHMAN has been found guilty of conspiring to smuggle drugs into the UK using a fake ambulance in connection with an audacious £1.6 billion operation which saw huge amounts of contraband brought across the Channel under the noses of British police.
Prosecutors said “right-hand man” Leonardus Bijlsma, was part of a “lucrative criminal conspiracy” concealed from border officials with the aid of bogus paramedic uniforms and fake patients on crutches.
Bijlsma, aged 55, of Hoofddorp, Amsterdam, now faces a lengthy jail term after denying the charges throughout a two-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
Two other men from Holland, Olof Schoon, said to be the conspiracy’s central player, and Richard Engelsbel had already admitted the conspiracy charge and will be sentenced alongside their compatriot next week.
A fourth man, 28-year-old Dennis Vogelaar, of Vijfhuizen, Amsterdam, was acquitted by the jury of smuggling class A contraband.
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