LONDON:
A JAMAICAN, who police claim could not read or write, has been found guilty of amassing a multi-million pound fortune from the sale of cannabis from his West Indian restaurant in London, England.
Errol Anderson, 47, who used the proceeds to buy several houses, was found guilty at Inner London Crown Court along with his wife, Audrinna Witter. She was found guilty of helping him invest the cash. Anderson, originally from Clarendon, also faces deportation to Jamaica as he had violated his immigration status after over staying on a visitor's visa in 1993. Both will be sentenced later this week.
During the trial which lasted over six months, Anderson fired his solicitor and took over his own defence, despite his inability to read and write. He always denied any knowledge of drug dealing at the appropriately named 'Green Leaf' restaurant in Clapham, South London. Police evidence at the trial claims Anderson was making so much money from the drug sale that he would regularly take large sums to the local bank and asked staff to count it. In one account he had over 485,000 pounds after making numerous cash payments over several months.
POPULAR JAMAICAN DISHES
Anderson opened his restaurant in 1995 selling popular Jamaican dishes like jerk chicken, oxtail, patties and other pastries, but the most popular item on sale was cannabis which regularly attracted clients from across the United Kingdom (UK) and abroad. Some even turned up in cabs dressed in smart suits which indicated that they were from a variety of backgrounds.
The restaurant was so popular with drug users that he would sell between 500 and 600 bags of the weed a day for between 10 and 15 pounds. Business boomed even further when the Metropolitan Police downgraded cannabis to a Class C drug and adopted a 'softly softly' approach to possession in the South London borough.
Anderson, in the meantime, began investing his income from the sale of the illegal drug into properties. The court was told that in all he has five houses and interests in several more, all of which now face confiscation.
RAID
When police finally raided his restaurant, they found more than two kilograms of cannabis and 6,000 packs of king-size cigarette paper. But throughout the trial Anderson claimed that he did not know the drug was there and that he did not even allow people to smoke around him. He also claimed that his income was between 10,000 and 15,000 pounds a year from the food he sold at the restaurant and from his outdoor food stalls at popular music festivals and the Notting Hill Caribbean Carnival.
Last week he was found guilty of 10 counts of concealing or transferring the proceeds of drug trafficking, three counts of possessing drug with intent to supply. Witter was found guilty of seven counts of concealing or transferring the proceeds of drug trafficking. Sentencing will be made this week.
