A courier acted as a ‘buffer’ between drug dealers and customers in a slick operation which saw hundreds of kilos of cocaine imported into the UK. Craig Simpson was tracked by officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) collecting crates containing the class A drug before driving it up to Manchester Airport.
On five occasions throughout 2017, it was found that up to 40 kilos of cocaine was concealed within each crate. However, when officers infiltrated the operation, Simpson, 47, was nowhere to be seen - and remained unlawfully at large for four years.
In October 2021 he was arrested in Marbella and extradited back to the UK. Following a trial, he was found guilty of knowingly encouraging or assisting in the commission of a crime. Jurors found that he did not know the crates contained cocaine, and he was not convicted of smuggling the drug.
