GREAT-GRANDFATHER RAN DRUG SMUGGLING RING

A 75-YEAR-old man was facing jail yesterday after being convicted of taking
part in a multi-million-pound cannabis smuggling ring.

Joseph Causton ran a business apparently importing cans of Spanish plum
tomatoes. But the consignment concealed a huge quantity of cannabis
designed for distribution across Britain, Snaresbrook Crown Court, east
London, was told. Causton, a great-grandfather of Dagenham, Essex, was
convicted of possessing 2,061kg of cannabis resin with intent to supply.
Sentence was adjourned until Feb 11.

The trial heard how cannabis was shipped from north Africa to Marbella,
where it was packed into tomato cans for shipment to Britain. Causton set
up ABC Canned Fruit Wholesale in Rainham, Essex, to prepare the drugs for
distribution.

Det Con Lloyd Hales, who said he believed Causton was "Britain's oldest
drug dealer", added: "We could be looking at cannabis resin worth more than
pounds 20 million."