A criminal gang faces jail for smuggling drugs worth more than £135million under the guise of a furniture removal company. Kingpin Jonathan Arnold, 29, boasted of his wealth online by posting photos of holidays to Dubai and road trips in a Ferrari, police said.
The gang brought large quantities of cocaine, heroin and ketamine into the UK by using dummy loads of furniture to hide consignments. Some of the vehicles had hidden compartments to conceal the shipments.
Arnold, of Sutton Coldfield, admitted four charges of conspiracy to import and supply drugs. James Jenkins, 25, Humayan Sadiq, 43, and Connor Fletcher, 25, were found guilty for their roles in the drugs ring following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court. They will be sentenced at the same court.
The gang was rumbled last January when one of its couriers made a drug run to Europe in a Real Estate Removals van. It was searched by French Customs’ officers, who found 63 blocks of cocaine weighing 71kg along with 99 bags of ketamine weighing 101kg. The drugs had a UK wholesale value of £2.5 million, police said.
The biggest single seizure came in April last year, when the gang tried to bring 1,477kg of cocaine with a street value of around £118m into Portsmouth. The drugs, hidden among bananas, were seized by Dutch police officers on a ship which had travelled from Colombia to Vlissingen in the Netherlands.
The ship was allowed to continue its journey into Portsmouth after the drugs had been removed. Last June, driver Connor Fletcher returned from a trip to the Netherlands with 60kg of cocaine hidden in two secret compartments built into the floor of the lorry.
Investigators had linked Fletcher to the smuggling network and he was intercepted by Border Force and arrested by West Midlands Police. Jenkins assisted Arnold in helping to arrange drivers and acted as a supervisor for the operation, while Fletcher was employed as a driver, prosecutors said.
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Detective chief superintendent Jenny Skyrme, head of the West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit, said it was the 'biggest drugs case' they'd ever dealt with.
She added: "The gang was operating at the highest levels of criminality, bringing in industrial quantities of drugs to sell on the streets of the West Midlands and beyond. As the head of the crime group, Jonathan Arnold enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, driving luxury cars and enjoying trips to Dubai.
“He gave the impression that he was a legitimate businessman with a small firm which moved furniture and had a turnover of £50,000 a month. The reality was that he was arranging tens of millions of pounds worth of drugs to be imported into the UK from Europe and South America, which would have gone on to cause untold misery and significant harm to communities.
“We were able to build a really detailed picture of this operation through mobile phone analysis, CCTV and other intelligence. Working with the National Crime Agency, Border Force, and law enforcement abroad, we’ve been able to put the gang behind bars where they will spend many years.”
The full charges and pleas were as follows:
- Jonathan Arnold, aged 29, of Cremorne Road, Sutton Coldfield – head of the group – An importer of drugs and someone who arranged importation of the drugs. He admitted four charges of conspiracy to import and supply drugs – cocaine, heroin and ketamine.
- James Jenkins, aged 25, of Lichfield Street, Tamworth – was a supervisor for the operation. He has been found guilty of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, but not guilty of importing cocaine.
- Connor Fletcher, aged 25, of Bridgnorth Road, Wolverhampton, drove an HGV into Dover from Calais containing 60 kg of cocaine concealed within two hides. Found guilty of conspiracy to import cocaine.
- Humayan Sadiq, aged 43, of Manchester. He had planned to move the cocaine that was due to have been brought into Portsmouth from Colombia via Holland. He was found guilty of conspiracy to import cocaine.
- Two others on trial - Jack Bishop, aged 31, of Hockley Road, Tamworth, and Ryan Hatton, aged 27, of Trent Valley Road, Lichfield were found not guilty of the drugs charges against them.
