'CONFISCATION ACROSS THE CHANNEL'

As a result of a proactive operation led by the Middle Market Drugs Project, Edwing Verdonck was arrested on the 19th of January 2006 on his Eurostar journey from Belgium to England. Verdonck, a Belgian national, had concealed over 4.5 kilos of
Ecstasy and Cocaine, both class A drugs in the car battery of his A Class Mercedes vehicle.


On the 26th of July 2006, Verdonck pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to import a controlled Class A drug and was sentenced to ten years imprisonment with confiscation proceedings being timetabled.

A year later, Verdonck was granted permission to serve the remainder of his sentence in a Belgian prison. Unfortunately, he managed to achieve this without it being noted that he had confiscation proceedings pending.

Regardless of Verdonck residing in a  Belgian prison, the London RART carried on the financial investigation on him with HHJ Pontius at Blackfriars Crown Court ordering proceedings to go ahead with Verdonck giving evidence via a videolink. This procedure had not been tried before and is hoped it will set the precedent for allowing defendants to be pursued for asset recovery outside of the UK.

Just before proceedings commenced, Verdonck stated that he would take no part in a video link confiscation hearing. Verdonck's unwillingness to co-operate did not prevent the confiscation hearing proceeding and it was held in his absence. On the 20th of May 2008 at Blackfriars Crown Court, HHJ Pontius made a confiscation order for £220,814.85 with Verdonck given 6 months to pay, failure to do so will result in a further 3 years being added to his sentence.

The RART is extremely pleased with this result as it highlights how the co-operation of overseas law authorities can overcome criminals attempts to obstruct proceedings and also illustrates the importance of pursuing criminal's assets.