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06/01/2006
Operation smashes Britain's biggest cocaine ring
Two Colombian drug dealers, who headed what is believed to be Britain's largest cocaine network, are serving sentences of 19 and 17 years, it has been revealed today.
Jesus Anibal Ruiz-Henao, 45, and Mario Tascon, 32, headed the 50-strong gang involved in the sophisticated cocaine-smuggling and money-laundering ring.
The pair, former asylum seekers from the Colombian town of Pereira, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and money-laundering at a hearing last year.
Details of the convictions have only been released, after reporting restrictions were lifted, following the conviction of the final defendant in the case.
The convictions followed a four-year investigation by the National Crime Squad and Colombian authorities. Scotland Yard also conducted a separate investigation into the money-laundering charges.
The operation led to the seizure of £3.5 million in cash and 645kg of cocaine. It is believed that the gang smuggled as much as £25 million worth of cocaine into the UK per year.
The scale of the network was thought to be so extensive that the price of cocaine increased by 50% when Ruiz-Henao and Tascon were arrested.
Thirty-four people - 25 from Colombia, four from Spain, three from England, one from Canada and one from Panama - have received sentences totalling more than 300 years for their involvement in the operation.
The last defendant, Maria Cannes Gomes, 36, admitted to laundering £750,000 in cash and forging a passport at Southwark Crown Court. She will be sentenced in March.
(KMcA)
Jesus Anibal Ruiz-Henao, 45, and Mario Tascon, 32, headed the 50-strong gang involved in the sophisticated cocaine-smuggling and money-laundering ring.
The pair, former asylum seekers from the Colombian town of Pereira, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and money-laundering at a hearing last year.
Details of the convictions have only been released, after reporting restrictions were lifted, following the conviction of the final defendant in the case.
The convictions followed a four-year investigation by the National Crime Squad and Colombian authorities. Scotland Yard also conducted a separate investigation into the money-laundering charges.
The operation led to the seizure of £3.5 million in cash and 645kg of cocaine. It is believed that the gang smuggled as much as £25 million worth of cocaine into the UK per year.
The scale of the network was thought to be so extensive that the price of cocaine increased by 50% when Ruiz-Henao and Tascon were arrested.
Thirty-four people - 25 from Colombia, four from Spain, three from England, one from Canada and one from Panama - have received sentences totalling more than 300 years for their involvement in the operation.
The last defendant, Maria Cannes Gomes, 36, admitted to laundering £750,000 in cash and forging a passport at Southwark Crown Court. She will be sentenced in March.
(KMcA)
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Doherty pleads guilty to drugs charges
Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty had pleaded guilty to possession of drugs after arriving more than two hours late at a court appearance in London. An arrest warrant had been issued for the 28-year-old singer earlier on Tuesday after he failed to turn up at 9:30am for a hearing at West London Magistrates' Court.
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