Southampton man found with 10kg of cannabis in his car

Dede Kuqo was stopped by officers whilst driving on Briton Street in Southampton.

A police chase ensued after Kuqo, 30, ‘took off’ on foot and was seen throwing two mobile phones into a bush.

He was apprehended by officers who discovered 10 large vacuum bags of herbal cannabis in his car.

Southampton Crown Court heard how Kuqo was transporting the drug, weighing in at over 10kg, in exchange for £60.

Prosecuting, Keely Harvey said: “Cannabis weighing over 10kg was found inside the vehicle and has an estimated street value of between £48k-£60k.

“The two phones were retrieved but have not been analysed.

“He was entrusted with that amount of cannabis; he must have been in a trusted role and have some knowledge of the scale of the operation.

“The defendant says he was involved through coercion, but this is somebody who had two mobile phones and had the thought process to throw them away.”

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Police officers searched Kuqo’s home address in Canute Road where a mobile phone box matching one of the discarded phones was found.

But mitigating, Mark Ruffell said Kuqo only has £95 to his name and is being financially supported by his partner.

He said: “Mr Kuqo came to this country about a year and a half ago and he formed a relationship with a woman, and she is now pregnant with their child.

“He has been supported by her financially in this country. He has a bank account with £95 in.

“This has all the hallmarks of whoever the cannabis belonged to, not wanting to take the risk.

“Someone approached him to carry out this risk and pay him only £60 to do it.

“There’s a flavour of coercion in this, but we accept Mr Kuqo’s motivation was money.

“I ask you to keep his sentencing as short as possible so he can be reunited with his partner.”

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Judge Peter Henry described the circumstances as ‘highly suspicious.’

Passing sentence, he said: “It was obvious to you, in my judgement, that you had large amounts of drugs in that car.

“Whoever it was that paid you to carry out this task, trusted you enough to move the drug on their behalf.

“You threw the phones away in circumstances which were highly suspicious.”

He was handed a six-month prison sentence after admitting possession with intent to supply cannabis, a class B drug.

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