TWO ‘legal high’ drugs smugglers have been jailed after being caught trying to bring in up to £435,000 to Britain.


Ian White, of Larkfield Avenue, Paddington, and Anthony Rourke, of Newhaven Road, Orford, both aged 25, were due to get £1,500 between them for bringing in 87,000 phenazepam tablets from Ireland.


But the couriers were stopped in their Vauxhall Corsa on November 27 and searched at Holyhead port in Anglesey and the drugs were found.


Caernarfon Crown Court heard on Wednesday how the pair had spent just four hours in Ireland on their journey.


White claimed they had taken a short trip to Dublin to view possible wedding venues for him. But the powerful tablets, which sold for £1 to £5 each, were found in a bin-bag.


Phenazepam is said to cause amnesia and drowsiness which may lead to a coma and breathing problems.


Recorder Wyn Lloyd Jones told the defendants he accepted they were remorseful but controlled drugs were a serious problem.


He added :”You had no idea at all in whose hands those tablets might have ended up.”


White was jailed for a total of 22 months after a suspended sentence was activated and Rourke was locked up for 20 months.
They admitted unlawfully importing drugs.