A former March estate agent who quit the town suddenly 13 years ago has been arrested in Portsmouth and charged with the importation of cannabis with a street value of £500,000.
Paul Kerbey has been accused of conspiring to import 84.8 kilograms of cannabis into the United Kingdom.
He was arrested at Portsmouth docks and appeared before magistrates on June 12. He was remanded in custody for trial at Portsmouth Crown Court.
Kerbey has been operating a removals business from Malaga, Spain, where he advertises to clients that he makes “regular trips from Spain to UK and return”.
His company promises that we “we transport anything you need to take there or bring back at a very good rate!”.
News of his arrest was provided by an English businessman who sub contracted Kerbey’s company to bring his clients’ furniture back to England. The businessman says he is now dealing with the courts and HM Customs to reclaim the items which were impounded following Kerbey’s arrest.
Kerbey was well known in March when he ran the Property Express estate agency at Lloyds Bank Chambers.
However, in 2007 he upped and left for Malaga, leaving behind a trail of dissatisfied tenants and landlords who between them were owed around £20,000.
He also left behind an unhappy associate who had paid £25,000 to join the business but who was sacked after Kerbey cashed the final instalment of his investment.
Kerbey owned a house in March until 2006 but then sold up and moved to a rented property in Doddington before closing his business and fleeing to Spain.
Clients of his Spanish business – Driva Provida – appear to have been satisfied with his work there.
“Highly recommend Paul,” wrote a happy client on the company’s Facebook page in April. “Picked all my stuff up and was in the UK within seven days. Very professional and will use again soon.”
Another wrote, last December, of “amazing service; I highly recommend and will definitely use in the future!
“I wasn’t the easiest customer as I was moving a lot of and both locations had difficult access, but Paul’s smiles, patience and friendly manner didn’t falter”.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here