A
'lobster pot' cocaine smuggler, who tried to import £53m worth of
the drug, has been jailed for twenty-eight years.
Edward
Henry Austin, 47, (pictured) from Welling, Kent had orchestrated the
plot, involving five accomplices who collected the 255kg haul from
the English Channel.
The
cocaine – packed into eleven holdalls – was dropped into the sea
by a container ship sailing from Brazil to antwerp, Belgium in May
2010.
To
disguise the smuggling operation as legitimate fishing the holdalls
were tied along a rope resembling submerged lobster pots.
The
four-man 'fishing' crew and another accomplice were caught and given
prison sentences totalling 104 years.
Austin
had fled to the costa-del-crime in Spain, but was returned to the UK
from Fuengirola in January.
Detective
Inspector Colin Stephenson, of the Metropolitan Police Service’s
Central Task Force, said: "‘We will robustly investigate
organised criminal gangs involved in polluting the streets of London
with cocaine.
“These
criminal networks employ sophisticated methods to smuggle cocaine to
the UK and flood our streets with the drug.
“This
multi-agency investigation has shown that the MPS will rigoursly
pursue those involved in these criminal enterprises.”
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