A BUSINESSMAN who was given the all-clear to import recreational drugs by the Government was prosecuted months later by one of its agencies.

Company boss Patrick Wilson was arrested along with his two brothers and a friend after shipping hundreds of thousands of “pep” pills into the UK.

Wilson was told by the Home Office and trading standards chiefs that he was safe to buy Benzylpiperazine because it is not a banned substance.

But months later, his business premises in Middlesbrough were raided by police and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.

Officials found 63,210 pills in the August 2006 swoop at units in High Force Road belonging to Wilson and his company, Spiritual High Limited.

Investigations revealed that sales totalling more than £682,000 – mostly from his website – had been made by 39-year-old Wilson in only 17 months.

Wilson believed what he was doing was lawful, but his barrister, Nicholas Hilliard, conceded: “Ignorance of the law is obviously no defence.”

Teesside Crown Court was told that the Council of Europe is recommending that the drug – also known as BZP – is outlawed in member countries.

In the UK, legislation is expected to come into force this year to classify the party drug – which gives users similar affects to amphetamine – as illegal.

Wilson, of Guisborough Road, Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough, admitted four breaches of the 1968 Medicines Act and was given a two-year conditional discharge yesterday.

Judge Tony Briggs described the hearing as a “test case” and said it should act as a warning to others who might now be aware of the pitfalls.

Wilson was prosecuted for not having a licence to import or deal in medicinal products, and for putting them on a market without authorisation.

Mr Hilliard told the court: “He had made inquiries in an effort to seek confirmation about the legality of what he was doing. He was given no indication that what he was doing was unlawful.

“Many people could be forgiven for thinking if it was not unlawful to import something, you would not be under much of a risk selling it once it was here.”

Judge Briggs said: “Perhaps this case will have served its purpose if it gives far wider publicity to the general prohibitions putting on the market anything capable of having a mind-altering propensity.”

Wilson’s brothers, Danny, 42, and Kieron, 29, the manager of Spiritual High, were arrested along with Shane Patton, 35, after the pills – known as Pep X, Pep Love, Pep Stoned and Pep Twisted – were seized.

Mr Patton, of Roseberry Court, Great Ayton, Danny Wilson, of Coral Street, Saltburn, east Cleveland, and Kieron Wilson, from Surbiton, London, had no evidence offered against them after pleading not guilty.