Lorry driver jailed after drugs found in mattress

Italian lorry driver, Alessio Giovannetti, said he believed the packages contained horse medication which he did not think was illegal. Credit: NCA

A lorry driver who attempted to smuggle ketamine and mephedrone worth £2 million into the UK, by hiding it in his mattress, has been jailed.

The National Crime Agency investigated 36-year-old Alessio Giovannetti, from Italy, after his lorry was stopped at Dover on the 29th of May 2021.

His truck, carrying lettuce, was searched by Border Force officers and packages containing 70 kilos of ketamine and 20 kilos of mephedrone were found in voids hidden around the cab.

Alessio Giovannetti was sentenced to five years and seven months in jail. Credit: NCA

Further amounts were discovered in Giovannetti's mattress, with NCA forensic experts estimating the drugs to have been worth £2 million at street level.

NCA officers questioned Giovannetti who stated that the packages smelt bad so he had placed them around his cab to stop the smell.

He said he believed the packages contained horse medication which he did not think was illegal. Giovannetti was charged with two counts of attempting to import class B drugs.

20kg of mephedrone was found in voids hidden around the cab. Credit: NCA

He pleaded guilty at Canterbury Crown Court on the 19th of August and was sentenced to five years and seven months imprisonment.

NCA senior investigating officer Daren Nicholls said: 

"Alessio Giovannetti went to great efforts to hide these drugs around his cab, claiming it was their bad smell that caused him to conceal his illegal haul".

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