“Socalj” for Borderland Beat
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A drugs ring smuggled cocaine worth more than £1 billion ($1.2 billion USD) into the UK in boxes of frozen chicken, a court has heard. Shipments of the drug were unpacked at a warehouse in Redditch, near Birmingham, England, and distributed around the UK, prosecutors said. Packages worth £25m were found at two addresses in Leeds and Dewsbury in West Yorkshire, a jury was told.
Cherie-Anne Rayner, 29, Liam Harrington, 38, Megan Budden, 22, and Mazafer Hussain, 43, are alleged to have had trusted roles in the”high-end” criminal network. Five men from Leeds, Dewsbury, Glasgow, and Birmingham have admitted drug supply charges.
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| Crystal methamphetamine worth nearly £5m was found at the flat in Leeds |
Cocaine & Meth Seizures
Police who raided the property on September 10, 2022, discovered 141 kilos of cocaine with an estimated street value of £14.1m in a locked room along with 33 kilos of crystal methamphetamine worth nearly £5m. Prosecutor Stephen Grattage told the jury “blocks and blocks and blocks” of the drug, as well as a note bearing the name of the Nueva Generacion Cartel, was found in Ms. Rayner and Mr. Harrington’s flat in Flaxton Street in Beeston, Leeds.
Scales, gloves, a vacuum wrapping machine, safes, and an accounts book with details of “a commodity being exchanged in tons” were also found behind the locked door of the couple’s bedroom, Grattage said.
“Fendi”
Rayner was Fendi’s “manager on the ground,” while Maan was paid thousands a month to store and repackage “huge quantities” of cocaine and transport it around the country, the jury heard. “It is the Crown’s case that Megan Budden supported [Maan] in these activities, traveling with him, storing the drugs and guarding them, helping to move drugs when required,” Grattage said.
Hussain, of Foxton Road, Birmingham, is alleged to have worked at the Fendi organization’s distribution “hub”. Their hub was an industrial unit in Spring Street, Redditch, which the court heard received deliveries of cocaine concealed in pallets of imported frozen chicken. Hussain was arrested on in December last year after a van that had left the premises earlier that day was stopped by police and found to be carrying 75 kilos of frozen cocaine in four holdalls.
The court heard that the van’s driver, Stephen Gibson, would drive from Scotland to collect drugs from the warehouse and pass them on to others, including Maan. Earlier that day he was seen handing two holdalls to another man, Darren Hunter, who was also stopped by officers and found to be in possession of 48 kilos of cocaine.
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Police raided the Spring Street warehouse and found Hussain and an alleged co-conspirator, Tabrez Hussain, 39, loading a van with boxes of frozen chicken. Some of the boxes were marked and had been opened, the court heard. The prosecutor said a “conservative estimate” had put the street value of the drugs imported through the warehouse at £1 billion or around $1.2 billion USD.
In the warehouse officers also found luggage of the same brand and type as those filled with drugs in Gibson and Hunter’s vehicles and in Budden’s flat, the jury was told.
The four defendants standing trial have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
Harrington and Raynor also deny possession of cocaine and possession of crystal methamphetamine with intent to supply, while Budden denies possession of a class A drug with intent to supply. All three told police they were unaware the drugs were in their flats, the court heard.
Maan, of Churchbank Way, Dewsbury, and Stephen Raynor, of Scargill Grange, Leeds, have both admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine. Gibson, of Belsyde Avenue, Glasgow, and Tabrez Hussain, of Cuthbert Road, Birmingham, have each pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of class A drugs. Hunter, of Queenslie Street, Glasgow, has admitted possession of cocaine with intent to supply.
Sources BBC