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Meet septuagenarians Roger and Sue Clarke. Roger, 71 and Sue 72 both of the UK who were sentenced to eight years for smuggling drugs. The Clarkes resided in the Guardamar del Segura, Spain. The UK’s Telegraph describes them as the life and soul of local bars and member of a golf club [where they told of having served time in prison for cigarette smuggling.
The Clarkes had embarked on Cruise and Maritime Voyages’ (CMV) Marco Polo, which carries approximately 800 passengers. In St. Lucia they took on four suitcases following a day ashore. The Clarkes were subsequently arrested in Lisbon, Portugal, after Portuguese law enforcement authorities (having been tipped off by Britain’s National Crime Agency found approximately 20 lbs (9kg) of cocaine in the lining of their four suitcases.
The state prosecutor Manuela Brito note how unlikely it would be for the couple to be able to pay for a cruise which cost more than £18,000 ($22,118) when their combined monthly pension amounted to £1150 of which they paid £445 in rent for the residence. The police estimated that the couple would garner between £18,000 and £26,500 plus expenses (the cruise for example) for the delivery of the $1,000,000 worth of cocaine.
That prior cigarette smuggling? Well that wasn’t quite the truth. They had previously been arrested, convicted and jailed in Norway for smuggling cannabis, 240 kg (529 lbs) in 2010. Indeed, law enforcement suspects that the couple had engaged in multiple trans-Atlantic cruises dating back to 2017 for the purpose of smuggling cocaine into the UK.
Clarke whose given name is Roger Button, will be in prison until he is 80. And the difference in name Button to Clarke. Button changed his name to Clarke following his incarceration in Norway and prior to his relocating to Spain for his “retirement.”
