Something mad to declare!

EXCLUSIVE: Sentenced drug smugglers are being released from jail..to work as 'Customs men' 

CONVICTED cocaine traffickers are getting day-release from jail to work with unsuspecting Customs officers . . . on the frontline of Britain's drugs war.

Inmates are recruited direct from prison for shifts at Felixstowe docks to "help" stem a deadly tide of contraband destined for addicts all over the country.

Incredibly these villains are STILL SERVINGsentences and drive back to jail after work. Even more astonishing, the Customs team have NO IDEA of their new colleagues' dodgy backgrounds.

Hush

After special training the old lags are put in charge of powerful trucks and given the run of the massive East Coast dock complex.

They are directed to suspicious cargo containers and are responsible for moving them to a secure Customs warehouse to be searched for drugs, weapons and explosives.

But one of the convicts last week bragged to our undercover investigator: "It's a joke. Most of us have been done for drug offences and they've chosen to put us to work here of all places. We now know exactly how cargo is checked and could easily make sure a drug consignment gets through.

"When they sent us here we were told to keep hush about being in prison. It's funny walking past police patrols and Customs officers every day."

Several cons on the shocking dayrelease scheme from nearby Hollesley Bay Prison, Suffolk, work at the port six days a week.

The men landed the £270-a-week jobs under the prison's resettlement plan. They were sent to a company called Orwell Ports Operatives, a subsidiary of the reputable Drake International recruitment firm based at Felixstowe.

There they had a week's training on how to operate the specialist trucks used inside the port.

Last week our undercover reporters watched as five cons from Hollesley Bay—nicknamed Holiday Bay because of its lax regime—were driven to the docks.

The crooks had no trouble entering the port. But our team did. Within a minute of driving through the gate they were stopped by a police patrol car.

Bugs

"Nobody's allowed in the port without permission," declared the suspicious officer. "You can't just come in here...it's a port. No Tom, Dick and Harry can just stroll in."

Really? The cop was obviously unaware that the guy driving an IMV nearby was drug baron KEVIN RIPPE, currently serving seven years for smuggling cocaine, Ecstasy and super-strength cannabis.

Rippe, 40, has been working at the docks since February. He was jailed in November 2002 after detectives planted bugs in his car and home at nearby Harwich to track smuggled class A and B drugs.

Following one large shipment Rippe was heard saying: "That's my class A for Christmas. That should keep Harwich happy for a week or two!" Now he swans freely around Felixstowe sea terminal.

And, as the cops continued grilling our man, Rippe chatted to fellow con STEVE TAYLOR, 26—doing six years for similar drug offences. Just a few hundred yards away their pal, portly bald drug dealer ENZO DEFOE, 37, was busy taking containers off the internal rail line.

He is serving three years for possession of cocaine with intent to supply after a stash of it was found in his Land Rover and at his home in Braintree, Essex.

Another Hollesley Bay convict, MARK ORRIS, has achieved such a position of trust at the port that he now instructs newcomers in handling the IMV trucks.

On Sunday morning our investigators watched him at work in the Customs inspection area, standing next to a vehicle X-ray machine joking with a colleague—an unsuspecting excise man. The officer's smile will vanish when he learns that Orris—from Bramford, Suffolk—is serving four years for unlawful wounding, slashing his victim with a Stanley knife.

As Orris gossiped, his jailbird buddy KEITH ALLISON—nicknamed The Gentleman Thief—was busy chatting to another Customs man.

Silver

But bald burglar Allison, 53, was definitely not discussing how he was jailed at Norwich Crown Court for five years after getting caught stealing the family silver from a Norfolk farmhouse.

The former antique dealer's record goes back 30 years. His targets included Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire, once home to I'm A Celebrity jungle star Lord Brocket.

Until recently the port team also included inmate TERRY ROBINSON, doing three years for theft. But insiders say he was removed after it emerged his crime involved the snatch of a container—from the very docks he was working in.

Last night, after we alerted Customs about the backgrounds of their workmates, the cons were suspended and the prison launched an inquiry.

Tory home affairs spokesman Cheryl Gillan was shocked by our revelations. She said: "Your story makes a mockery of the whole day release system. These people have learned nothing more than how to commit more crimes."

The Orwell Ports Operatives recruitment agency refused to comment on their role in the scheme.

But a dock worker who discovered the truth about the new boys on the waterfront told us: "I was shocked. It's like putting a bank robber to work in Barclays so he can learn all the ins and outs for his next big job. It's totally mad."