Drugs slip in as Britain grieves

Customs officers have seized more than pounds 2m worth of cannabis as smugglers took advantage of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, to bring the drugs into Britain.

Following several months of surveillance work, officers from HM Customs National Investigation Service pounced at the Thurrock service station on the M25 in Essex. NIS officers say that because Britain was so quiet, as the nation watched the emotional funeral service of the princess, it was difficult for them to carry out a surveillance operation. The drugs, weighing three quarters of a ton, are thought to have been imported from Holland. A further four people were arrested in Middlesex where a further pounds 1m of drugs was found. Four people have been charged with drug smuggling, including a Dutch national. Two others, including a German man, are still being questioned. The four are due to appear before Uxbridge magistrates' court today.