Horse-Box Smuggler Fined Over Animal Cruelty
A man who was jailed for transporting drugs into Northern Ireland on Monday has been fined for animal cruelty.
A man who was jailed for transporting drugs into Northern Ireland on Monday has been fined for animal cruelty.
Laurence McAllister, 56 from Kells, Antrim, was a horse dealer before being jailed for smuggling cannabis from Scotland to Northern Ireland.
Now a Scottish court has fined him £13,500 over animal cruelty charges. Stranraer Sheriff's Court has also banned him from transporting horses for three years.
Mr McAllister was sentenced for his role in a drugs-smuggling operation which came to light when a sniffer dog detected 25kg of cannabis in a horse lorry.
The drugs, thought to have a street value of about £500,000, were hidden inside bags of molasses to hide their smell.
On Tuesday the accused was also handed separate charges of cruelty and of transporting a horse without a valid passport.
McAllister and his cohort, Kieran Murphy, 46, of Rathfriland, County Down, were convicted earlier this month. They were sentenced on Monday.
McAllister was jailed for five-and-a-half years and Murphy was sentenced to five.
The price of the cannabis is thought to have been £240,000 in Scotland, but would have doubled in its destination of Northern Ireland.
The smuggling journey saw the two men travel to the UK via a Dublin to Holyhead route. They were intercepted as they made their return to Northern Ireland.
http://www.4ni.co.uk 31/10/2012
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