Man caught in Bolton with socks stuffed with drugs

Gilberto Venancio, 29, was first caught out by police while a passenger in a black BMW on Thursday, August 24 last year.

Bolton Crown Court heard how police stopped the car after linking it to the supply of drugs in the area before searching Venancio.

Prosecutor Megan Horner said: “During the search the defendant was aggressive and tried to resist the search.”

She told the court that even after being handcuffed he still tried to resist but was found with £280 in cash with two mobile phones.

The case was heard at Bolton Crown Court (Image: Newsquest)

The officers also found a sock stuffed with brown wraps that turned out to be 57 wraps of heroin, worth around £570 in street value, and 50 wraps of crack cocaine, worth around £500.

Ms Horner said: “He was most likely acting as a courier distributing drugs at street level.”

Venancio, who at that point had no previous convictions, was released on bail but would be caught with hard drugs again only months later.

This time police had been out on patrol just after noon on October 5 when they saw Venancio driving a different black BMW on Manchester Road, Kearsley heading towards Farnworth.

A chase ensued during which Venancio drove at speeds of 75 mph in a 30mph zone, went on the wrong side of a roundabout and narrowly avoided hitting other vehicles.

He also hit a street sign before finally stopping after hitting a stone wall and trying to clamber onto the passenger’s seat.

Ms Horner said: “At that point he threw a black sock to the rear of the police vehicle.”

This was found to be stuffed with hard drugs with 79 wraps of crack cocaine, worth £790, 74 wraps of heroin, worth £740 and another 14 wraps of crack cocaine, worth £280.

He was again arrested and admitted to two counts of possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply for the first incident and another two counts of the same offence for the second incident.

Venancio, of Lizmar Terrace, Manchester also pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving without a licence and driving without insurance.

Adam White, defending, accepted that the high-speed chase had been dangerous but said it was a “very short pursuit”, lasting only about two and a half minutes.

He told the court that Venancio had been delivering drugs on behalf of other people and to pay off his own debts.

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Mr White said that the 29-year-old had been “at the bottom of the chain” in the drugs trade and had been working in courses while in prison.

Judge Eliot Knopf accepted that Venancio had earned credit by his guilty plea but reminded the court of the devastation wrought by the trade in hard drugs.

He said: “Those who are involved in the pernicious trade and supply of Class A drugs must know that the court will take a very strong view.”

Judge Knopf said that the court had seen the effects of drugs on addicts and the crimes that they commit to feed their addictions “time and time and time again.”

He jailed Venancio for four years.