Convicted drug smuggler Daniel McDonald claims he was victim of honeytrap scam  

A MAN accused of drug smuggling in Eastern Europe faces extradition despite claims he was the victim of an elaborate honey trap scam after falling in love with a Lebanese girl.

Daniel Macdonald, 31, from South Woodham Ferrers, was arrested in the Czech Republic in November 2009 on suspicion of importing 10.84kg of cannabis from Lebanon.

The former sales manager lost his last appeal at Westminster Magistrates' Court on March 12 and will now be extradited to Prague - where he has been sentenced to six-and-a-half years in jail and may serve time in the notorious Pankrác Prison.

In 2011, Daniel claimed he was granted freedom by a CID officer who signed papers saying he would not be prosecuted - but the officer has not been located and evidence of the meeting is yet to be proved.

"My life has been hell since that day," he said. "All for falling in love with the wrong girl. I've replayed all the events over in my head a million times and I just can't understand how I fell for it. How could I have been so stupid?"

Daniel is contesting extradition on grounds of poor mental health. He has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after his treatment by Czech police and also suffers from anxiety, stress and suicidal thoughts.

He was subject to the Maldon Community Mental Health Team and spent time at the Linden Centre at Broomfield Hospital.

"I'd rather die than go back there," he added. Daniel travelled to Lebanon with two friends he made in Portsmouth and on his first trip to Beirut he met a girl in a nightclub and fell in love.

"I was having the time of my life - the views were incredible," he said. "It felt like I was in a millionaire's playground at the time. In the street, everything was very conservative then behind closed doors you could really party and have a good time.

"When I met Leilana I instantly fell for her. She was so beautiful. It was like a dream come true. I must have spent nine of the 14 days I was there with her just seeing the sights and relaxing.

"Things happened quickly and after exchanging calls and e-mails we were planning to get married - she said she would come to England and we would live here."

Daniel visited four times before his final trip in 2009 and even agreed to become Muslim to appease her "uncles" in Lebanon - who were always close by. But during his last visit his suitcase was damaged in transit to his hotel. Leilana offered to get him a new one.

"She offered to buy me some new suitcase and came back with two instead. She then packed them for me. I never really picked them up and her 'uncle' even put them on the trolley at the airport- I had to pay for excess baggage but I put it down to alcohol I bought."

Daniel was arrested on a stop-over in Prague when police found drugs in the suitcases. He says officers came down the runway and took him off the plane.

"My world just ended that day - when I came back my two friends had disappeared off the face of the earth and Leilana was gone. No phone, no e-mail, no nothing. I thought I had lost her forever. I then started to realise that it was a set-up from the start."

He was released by a Czech judge after being kept in custody for three days. He claims he was then contacted in May 2011 by a female British CID officer and made to sign release documents at Edmonton Green Police station.

Daniel is still trying to trace the officer. He has since lost the letter and CCTV at the station was destroyed after five days.

"I was approached by a female officer and told to go to a police station. I signed the letters and left. I had a small celebration that night because I thought it was over. I had faith in the justice system but not anymore."

In June 2012 he received a letter from Czech police saying he had been convicted in his absence and was subject to a European arrest warrant. He was then arrested at Victoria Coach Station.

After nine months in a Czech prison he can apply for a return to the UK but these cases are rare. "It seems so unfair - my story is true and it hasn't changed. If I was going to smuggle the drugs, why in Lebanon, where the penalties are so severe for foreigners?"

http://www.essexchronicle.co.uk 29/03/2014