Latest News > 19 July 10 - Gang used corrupt baggage handlers to import drug haul

 

The final four in a gang of seven have been found guilty at Croydon Crown Court of a plot to import £4.5 million of cocaine by using corrupt baggage handlers at London’s Heathrow airport.



Mark Oliver, 29, Michael Hopkins, 51, Malcolm Bax, 32 and Anthony Robinson, 46, were part of a gang that hired baggage workers at Heathrow airport to help smuggle 12kg of cocaine into the country from Brazil.



Three other members of the gang, Anthony Rouse, 53, Charles Oliver, 28 and Anthony Cenci, 24, had previously pleaded guilty at Croydon Crown Court.



The convictions follow an intelligence led, multi agency operation, by the Middle Market Drugs Partnership (MMDP) comprising officers from SOCA and the Metropolitan Police Service, with support from the UK Border Agency and HM Revenue & Customs.



Officers from MMDP tracked the gang over a number of months leading to six of the gang being arrested on 27 and 28 September 2009, and the seizure of 12kg of high purity cocaine. Once cut and sold at street level the cocaine could have been worth up to £4.5 million.



The drugs were imported from Brazil on the 27 September 2009 onboard a flight to London Heathrow’s Terminal 5. They had been placed in a large orange suitcase so that they could be easily spotted by baggage handler Anthony Cenci on arrival.



Cenci picked up the orange case as planned and left in a white van to deliver the drugs, not realising he was being tracked by MMDP officers. Bax directed him, by mobile telephone, to rendezvous with Rouse to deliver the drugs. At this point SOCA officers moved in and arrested Cenci at the scene. Rouse rammed an officer’s car to escape, but was tracked down and arrested following further investigations.



At the same time SOCA officers arrested Charles Oliver and Hopkins, who were acting as lookouts. Mark Oliver was arrested later that evening. Robinson and Bax were arrested the following day.



Detective Constable Ian Broughton from the MMDP said;

"This was a serious crime involving the corruption of baggage handlers working at London Heathrow. The result is a product of the fantastic liaison and cooperation between many agencies, to combat the importation of controlled drugs. We endeavour to keep drugs off the streets by bringing criminals like this to justice.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

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