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05/06/2009
Ten Jailed Over £36m Drug Smuggling Plot
Ten men convicted of attempting to smuggle drugs worth £36 million into Britain in a rusty tugboat, have been jailed.
The smugglers – including British criminals and members of a Serbian gang – were caught trying to flood the UK with 12.5 tonnes of cannabis resin, following a surveillance operation by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca).
Six men, including an 81-year-old, were found guilty at Winchester Crown Court while four others pleaded guilty.
The court heard an Israeli crime gang used an eastern European crew to transport the drugs. The men were captured after an international operation shadowed the boat and they were arrested at hotels before they could distribute the drugs around the country.
It took police several days to unload over 400 blocks of the drug which each measured over a foot in length.
The drugs had been stuffed into tanks designed to hold fresh water, foam for fire fighting and ballast.
Dusan Mileusnic, 49, Negovan Jovanovic, 58, Goran Otovic, 54, Dragan Stankovic, 54, Moshe Kedar, 81, and Mordechai Hersh, 67 were found guilty.
Earlier in the trial, Mohinder Rai, 35, Baljinder Rai, 31, Anjum Nazir, 39, all from Leicester, and Israeli national Yehezkel Srebro, 57, who were due to receive and distribute the drugs, pleaded guilty.
Three men from Leicester were among those locked up. They were internet entrepreneur Anjum Nazir, 39, jailed for eight years and brothers Mohinder Rai, 45, and Baljinder Rai, 41, who were jailed for eight years each. Two Ukrainians were acquitted.
The swoop, the key moment of Operation Caroche, involved officers from Soca, Hampshire Police, Leicester Police, HM Revenue and Customs and UK Border Agency.
(JM/KMcA)
The smugglers – including British criminals and members of a Serbian gang – were caught trying to flood the UK with 12.5 tonnes of cannabis resin, following a surveillance operation by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca).
Six men, including an 81-year-old, were found guilty at Winchester Crown Court while four others pleaded guilty.
The court heard an Israeli crime gang used an eastern European crew to transport the drugs. The men were captured after an international operation shadowed the boat and they were arrested at hotels before they could distribute the drugs around the country.
It took police several days to unload over 400 blocks of the drug which each measured over a foot in length.
The drugs had been stuffed into tanks designed to hold fresh water, foam for fire fighting and ballast.
Dusan Mileusnic, 49, Negovan Jovanovic, 58, Goran Otovic, 54, Dragan Stankovic, 54, Moshe Kedar, 81, and Mordechai Hersh, 67 were found guilty.
Earlier in the trial, Mohinder Rai, 35, Baljinder Rai, 31, Anjum Nazir, 39, all from Leicester, and Israeli national Yehezkel Srebro, 57, who were due to receive and distribute the drugs, pleaded guilty.
Three men from Leicester were among those locked up. They were internet entrepreneur Anjum Nazir, 39, jailed for eight years and brothers Mohinder Rai, 45, and Baljinder Rai, 41, who were jailed for eight years each. Two Ukrainians were acquitted.
The swoop, the key moment of Operation Caroche, involved officers from Soca, Hampshire Police, Leicester Police, HM Revenue and Customs and UK Border Agency.
(JM/KMcA)
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