Wednesday 26 October 2011

Gang Jailed Over Plans To Flood UK With Coke

Martin Brunt, crime correspondent

Ringleaders of a gang who stockpiled 40 tons of cocaine have been jailed for a total of 75 years as their accomplices wait to hear their sentences.

Baybasin, Taylor and McMullen
Baybasin, Taylor and McMullen were caught in an operation by Soca

The group planned to flood the UK with drugs from Central America via Ireland, hiding them in shipments of tinned fish and wood pallets.
The operation involved gangs in London and Liverpool. Members met to discuss the transportation in Paris and Caracas.
Last week the first 12 were given prison sentences totalling 209 years. The other 12 are being sentenced this week at Liverpool Crown Court.
Mehmet Baybasin, the leader of a Turkish gang in North London, was jailed for 30 years.
Paul Taylor, who led the Liverpool side of the conspiracy, got 22 years.
Another gang member, Martin McMullen, was imprisoned for 23 years.
The traffickers were caught in an operation led by the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), but it involved several international police forces.
Judge Aubrey QC said: "Many of you are to be sentenced for other offences that have at their core the evil and pernicious trade of drug dealing and are indicative of the desire for the good life you had and disregard for the effect on others.
"The quantities of drugs that would flood our streets, and the potential profits, are staggering.
"What was the goal? I have listened to many recordings. I am satisfied that they were not pie in the sky amounts but real estimates. £36,000 was the price of a kilo.
"There was talk of bringing two to three tons of cocaine from a stockpile of 40 and consideration was given to bringing in that stockpile piecemeal."
A catalogue of charges included the importation, supply and production of several drugs, including cocaine, heroin, amphetamine and cannabis.
Some defendants were also charged with money laundering and offences involving the manufacture and the theft of IDs.

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