Middle-aged couple used drug profits for charity work
A middle-aged UK couple have been jailed after growing drugs to fund charity work in Africa.
A middle-aged UK couple have been jailed after growing drugs to fund charity work in Africa.
Michael Foster, 62, and Susan Cooper 63, from Norwich, England, spent £400,000 (around $800,000) garnered from growing cannabis to help locals in a village in Kenya, reports British newspaper the Eastern Daily Press.
For six years the couple made regular trips to Kenya, paying for computers for a local hospital, life-saving surgery for villagers, and securing schooling for poor children.
They funded the work by growing cannabis at their farmhouse in Little Sutton, Lincolnshire and police say they were tipped off to the operation after an officer smelt the cannabis while pursuing a burglar near the property.
The couple were arrested following a police raid in June 2010 when authorities found 159 cannabis plants with an estimated street value of £20,000 (around $39,000).
Twenty-thousand pounds in £1,000 bundles was also found on the property.
"This couple were completely off the police radar. They were caught completely by chance," said prosecutor Jon Dee.
Police also found cannabis plants growing in a second property linked to the couple in Terrington St Clement.
The pair admitted four charges of producing cannabis and one offence of possessing criminal cash.
They were jailed for three years.
http://www.3news.co.nz 19/10/2012
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