Fifteen jailed for £1.4bn cocaine-in-cheese smuggling ring across northern England

A gang that hid cocaine inside gouda cheese, chocolate spread and cod mince has been jailed. Combined sentences total 196 years after linked trials at Leeds Crown Court.

Fifteen jailed for £1.4bn cocaine-in-cheese smuggling ring across northern England

Cocaine hidden in cheese wheels distributed across northern England

Fifteen men have been jailed for their roles in a criminal network that smuggled up to £1.4bn worth of cocaine into the UK concealed inside gouda cheese, chocolate spread and frozen fish mince, bbc.co.uk reports.

Sentencing the defendants at Leeds Crown Court, His Honour Judge Christopher Batty said those involved were responsible for distributing "astronomical sums" of cocaine. West Yorkshire Police described the network as the "largest criminal enterprise" the force had ever dismantled.

The gang is estimated to have moved more than 4.5 tonnes of drugs across the north of England in just 18 months. A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said intelligence and evidential assessments placed the total quantity distributed at between four and 14 tonnes, equating to a street value of between £400m and £1.4bn.

Investigation triggered by a £2m drugs seizure in Leeds

The police inquiry began in January 2023 when cocaine and ecstasy worth £2m were seized from a car stopped in the East End Park area of Leeds. That discovery led officers to uncover what Batty described as a "sophisticated conspiracy to distribute what were huge quantities of cocaine that had been imported from South America via Europe".

More than 100kg of gouda cheese was transported as commercial freight into Dover and then on to a legitimate distribution hub in Derby between December 2022 and April 2023. Refrigerated trucks collected shrink-wrapped pallets and delivered them to industrial units in Huddersfield, Cleckheaton and Halifax in West Yorkshire, and Blackburn in Lancashire.

At those locations, blocks of cocaine hidden within large wheels of the dairy product were unpacked and repackaged in cardboard boxes and black bin liners. A network of couriers from the Midlands, Lancashire and the North East then collected the drugs for onward distribution. Some of the cocaine blocks bore so-called "cartel stamps", the trials heard.

Tactics shifted after early arrests

After two members of the distribution network were arrested in May and July 2023, officers said they "observed a change in tactics". Pick-ups moved to motorway service stations, and consignments of chocolate spread and frozen fish mince replaced the cheese as hiding places for the drugs.

One defendant, Craig Goulding, was paid "thousands" to dispose of the waste food generated by the operation. He was jailed for 25 years in May.

Detective Inspector Kevin Daly said organised crime groups were "very ingenious in coming up with different ways to be able to hide the drugs." He acknowledged that dismantling such networks presented a persistent challenge.

"To a certain extent we take out one and another will try and repopulate," Daly said. "It's something we are continually looking at. We are continually looking to try and tackle serious and organised crime."

196 years in prison handed down across linked trials

Most of those sentenced in May and this week were arrested in December 2023 and convicted across a series of linked trials. Reporting restrictions imposed by the judge to avoid prejudicing proceedings have since been lifted.

Two further defendants — Sammy Stapleton, 42, of Peel Hall Road, Manchester, and Nathan Reilly, of Oxton Avenue, Manchester — are due to be sentenced next month. Mark Briggs, 30, of Norham Avenue South, South Tyneside, will be sentenced at a later date.

The sentences handed down are as follows:

A CPS spokesperson confirmed that additional defendants had also been sentenced for roles in the wider operation. The combined total of sentences handed down to date stands at 196 years.

Source: Google News UK — Crime (en)