COCAINE SMUGGLER PIETER 'POSH PETE' TRITTON -DEALING, SMUGGLING, PRISON, CALI CARTEL, ON RUN & MORE!

KRN TV WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO SIT DOWN FOR AN INTERVIEW WITH FORMER INTERNATIONAL COCAINE SMUGGLER PIETER 'POSH PIETER' TRITTON. PIETER TRITTON, 41, WENT FROM CARRYING WADS OF CASH, DRIVING EXPENSIVE CARS AND LIVING IN HUGE HOMES TO FEARING FOR HIS LIFE IN AN VIOLENT SOUTH AMERICAN PRISON WHERE INMATES WERE REGULARLY ATTACKED AND MURDERED. PIETER HAD BEEN DEALING DRUGS SINCE HE WAS 14 WHEN HE ARRIVED AT CARDIFF UNIVERSITY TO STUDY ARCHAEOLOGY, STARTING OFF SO HE COULD "SUBSIDISE" HIS STUDENT LOAN. EVENTUALLY, HE WAS SUPPLYING DEALERS WITH A KILO OF COCAINE A WEEK AND DROPPED OUT OF UNIVERSITY TO FOCUS ON HIS ILLICIT TRADE. HE DROPPED OUT OF UNIVERSITY IN THE SECOND YEAR AND MOVED TO BRISTOL AS HIS "BUSINESS" AND TERRITORY EXPANDED. BY THEN HE WAS PULLING IN £30,000 A MONTH. HE RENTED A WING OF A MANOR HOUSE IN SLAD VALLEY, WHERE LAURIE LEE WROTE CIDER WITH ROSIE. HE DROVE A MERCEDES KOMPRESSOR, A SAAB, AND A VOLVO. IN 2002, PIETER WAS SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS IN PRISON AFTER ADMITTING NINE COUNTS OF POSSESSING DRUGS WITH INTENT TO SUPPLY. POLICE FOUND 5,127 ECSTASY TABLETS, 1.4KG OF CANNABIS RESIN, 7.7KG OF HERBAL CANNABIS, 102G OF COCAINE, 2.6KG OF AMPHETAMINE SULPHATE AND 163G OF HEROIN IN HIS GLOUCESTERSHIRE LOCK-UP. AFTER TWO-AND-A-HALF YEARS HE WAS RELEASED. HE DECIDED TO FOCUS ON HIGH-VALUE, LOW-VOLUME COCAINE SMUGGLING IMPORTED FROM SOUTH AMERICA. IT WASN’T THE FIRST TIME HE’D GONE INTERNATIONAL. IN CARDIFF, HE BROUGHT IN 2,000 ECSTASY PILLS FROM AMSTERDAM. HE WAS NEARLY CAUGHT IN CALAIS WHEN A DRUGS DOG SMELLED SOMETHING WAS AMISS. THE PILLS SHOULD HAVE BEEN VACUUM-PACKED IN HIS JACKET’S LINING BUT THEY WERE LOOSE. IN 2005, THINGS WENT PEAR-SHAPED. PIETER WAS BUSTED BY INTERPOL IN A HOTEL ROOM IN ECUADOR’S CAPITAL, QUITO. HE WAS IN POSSESSION OF A TENT CONTAINING 7.8KG OF COCAINE, WORTH £500,000 ON THE STREET. AFTER BEING SIX WEEKS ON REMAND IN QUITO’S GARCIA MORENO JAIL HE WAS SENTENCED TO 12 YEARS BEHIND BARS. HE’D LOST HIS ‘POSH PETE’ MONIKER IN SOUTH AMERICA. NOW HE WAS DUBBED ‘CASPERINE’ BECAUSE HE WAS AS PALE AS CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST. GUN FIGHTS, RIOTS AND MURDERS WERE A REGULAR OCCURRENCE. SEVERAL OF PIETER’S PALS WERE KILLED. ONE ENDED UP IN DEBT BECAUSE OF DRUGS. HE SPENT NINE YEARS IN JAIL IN SOUTH AMERICA BEFORE BEING TRANSFERRED TO WANDSWORTH IN SOUTH LONDON, WHERE HE DID ABOUT 10 MONTHS. HE SERVED 10 YEARS IN TOTAL AND ON HIS RELEASE HE MOVED BACK TO GLOUCESTERSHIRE AND HE NOW SPLITS HIS TIME BETWEEN SPAIN AND FRANCE. NOW HE’S LOOKING TO GET BACK INTO THE IMPORT-EXPORT BUSINESS - BUT NOT FOR THE SAME REASONS AS BEFORE.