Who are Jack Jones and Isaac Rasmussen? Kid gets ex-Marines' cocaine in Lego box
Two former Royal Marines have been sentenced to prison for smuggling cocaine concealed in Lego boxes, one of which was mistakenly given to a child as a birthday gift. At Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday, June 15, Jack Jones was sentenced to at least 16 years in prison while his former Royal Marine comrade Isaac Rasmussen was sentenced to 10 years.
Smuggling illegal drugs is a growing cause of concern the world over. Last year, a woman who swallowed 106 capsules with 930 grams of pure cocaine was arrested at an Indian airport. Even Joe Exotic, the 'Tiger King', was charged for his drug dealings where he opened up snakes and put in bags of cocaine inside them and stitched them back up.
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As for the two former Royal Marines, after the court heard that his addresses were used for the items to be delivered to, a third partner, Paul Jones, 43, was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. Jones and Rasmussen pled guilty to conspiring to import and deliver narcotics into the nation using DPD packages brought in from Holland. A kilo of cocaine was found inside the gift, which was among 18kg they brought in from Holland illegally.
Two former Royal Marines who were importing cocaine into Merseyside inside boxes of Lego were caught when one of the boxes was given to a young boy as a birthday present. (By @LivEchoCourt for @LivEchonews) https://t.co/KT83paDPhj
— Jason Evans 🏴 🇪🇺 (@EvansTheCrime) June 15, 2021
Who are Jack Jones and Isaac Rasmussen?
Jack Jones of Hey Park, Huyton, and Isaac Rasmussen of Heath Road, Widnes, are both 28 years old. Defending Jones, Alaric Walmsley stated that he had served his nation as a Royal Marine and worked as an ambulance driver in the Medical Squadron. According to defense attorney Arthur Gibson, Rasmussen had known Jones since he entered the Marines at the age of 17 and got involved in the plot because of their relationship, the Daily Mail reported.
Jones, through his own admission, said that he had a history of supplying heroin, MDMA and cannabis, as well as conspiring to import cannabis and convert illicit goods. Rasmussen admitted conspiracy to import cannabis. The court heard that Jones had told a contact on messaging service EncroChat: “Bro we be multimillionaires in three months ha ha ha.”
The prosecutor, Charles Lander, claimed that while police seized 18kg of cocaine in eight Lego Duplo boxes worth $2.53M (£1.8M), it was simply the 'tip of the iceberg' in terms of the defendants' crimes. The package was brought to Rasmussen's apartment on the same day, but it was taken in by a neighbor. After unsuccessful attempts by the neighbor to return the package to Rasmussen, she handed one of the Lego boxes to her son's girlfriend, who wanted a present for her friend's son's birthday.
Lander claimed the box, which featured a fire engine on the front, was gift-wrapped and presented to the youngster, whose mother opened it. "'When she opened the box, she immediately noticed that it was not Lego but was an item that had been wrapped in various layers of different packaging," he said. A solid block of cocaine was what she found inside.
Judge Stuart Driver QC told Rasmussen: “You allowed your home to be used for delivery of multi-kilo packages of class A drugs. Part of such a delivery to your address, disguised as Lego, was inadvertently handed to a small child wrapped up as a birthday present, exposing the child to a risk of serious harm.”
Kenneth Heckle, Paul Jones's attorney, said his "entry into the criminal world" began after he lost his job as a forklift truck driver in 2018 after injuring his ankle. Jones admitted to having cannabis and illicit items in his possession.