§ Mr. Alex Carlileasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how often the power vested in the Commissioners of Customs and Excise under section 152(d) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979, 140W and its predecessor section 288(d) of the Customs and Excise Act 1952, has been exercised in the last 30 years; and in what circumstances.
§ Mr. MooreThe only occasion on which the power conferred on the Commissioners of Customs and Excise by section 152(d) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 and the section in the 1952 Act which it replaced, is known to have been exercised in the last 30 years, was the case of Glenstone Page Laws, a United States citizen who on 24 July 1978 was sentenced at Reading Crown court to nine years imprisonment for smuggling heroin into the United Kingdom contrary to section 304 of the Customs and Excise Act 1952.
Representations were made by the United States Department of Justice for the return of Laws to the United States for him to face charges and to give evidence there; as a result of those representations the chairman of the Board of Customs and Excise exercised the power under section 288(d) of the Customs and Excise Act 1952. On 14 August 1978 Laws was discharged from prison and immediately taken to the United States in one of its military aircraft. Following his testimony in a United States court, 15 other persons were convicted on charges of smuggling heroin. Laws himself pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years imprisonment and to 10 years special probation.