A Welsh drug dealer left Colombia "never to return" after snorting cocaine from the grave of feared drug lord Pablo Escobar, a court has heard. Steven Semmens subsequently said he carried out the stunt for a bet and did not think things would go as far as they did.
Semmens' barrister said his client's actions – which were put on Facebook – did not go down well with criminal confederates of the former cartel boss and were a sign of his "naivete" and of the Walter Mitty fantasy world he was living in. Semmens and four fellow cocaine conspirators have been sentenced to a total of more than 52 years in prison at Swansea Crown Court for their parts in peddling the Class A drug.
The court heard the men were involved in trafficking large quantities of cocaine into south Wales – often shipping stock from areas where there was glut of supply to areas where the supply was more limited and demand and therefore profits were higher. One of the defendants, Shane White, used the EncroChat secure communications network to run the operation while still working for the family glazing business. White also plotted with Semmens to import kilos of cocaine from South America to the UK – though as his barrister told the court not a single gram of the drug was every actually brought into the country by the duo due to their lack of ability and there was "something almost comical about their ineptitude".
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Another of the defendants, Swansea plumber Andrew Botto, used a shipping container hidden behind camouflage netting and fencing just yards from one of city's busiest roads as a base for his separate cocaine-dealing operation. When police forced entry to the locked unit in May last year as part of Operation Wizard they found a 1kg block of high-purity cocaine in a coolbox along with disposable gloves, bags, and weighing scales. Botto was arrested later the same day and was found to have more than £2,000 in cash in his trouser pockets.
Steven Semmens – also known as Steven Pascoe – aged 39, of Constant Road, Taibach, Port Talbot; Andrew Botto, aged 34, of Penlan Fach, Penlan, Swansea; Shane White, aged 34, of Broomhill, Port Talbot; and 37-year-old Ieuan Emlyn Williams, of Ynys y Gored, Port Talbot, had all previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine between April 2020 and August 2021 when they appeared in the dock for sentencing on Thursday. Semmens and White had also admitted to conspiracy to import cocaine. Botto had also previously pleaded guilty to a separate conspiracy, committed with others unknown, to supply cocaine, while White had also previously admitted conspiracy to import cannabis. Botto has a previous convictions from 2014 for possession of cocaine with intent to supply for which he received a five year prison sentence.
Faces of the drug network members:
Speaking in 2018 Semmens said he had snorted cocaine off Escobar's grave for a bet and "thought it would be a laugh". He said: "I was drinking with a friend and they said: 'Do you want to go and see the grave?'. And then my friend said: 'Sniff cocaine off it' and bet me £200 I wouldn't do it on Facebook Live." The video of him emptying a bag of white powder on the grave and then rolling up a $5 note subsequently went viral. He said he later shaved his hair in an effort to change his appearance and went into hiding but was found by the police and thrown out of the country. Semmens said the incident and the notoriety which follow had made it "awkward" to get a job and he added: "I just thought it would be a laugh, I didn't think it would go this far... I was drunk at the time... I've been bombarded with threats that I'm going to get skinned alive."
Andrew Taylor, for Semmens, said his client had led an "unusual and unfortunate" life. He said the defendant's biological father had had little to do with his son and Semmens had lived in Spain with his stepfather where he became fluent in the Spanish language. The barrister said the defendant ended up worked as a nightclub ticket promoter in San Antonio in Ibiza where he met and formed a relationship with a Colombian women and the couple subsequently moved to Colombia. He said Semmens snorting cocaine off the grave of the cartel boss Pablo Escobar came to the attention to Escobar's "criminal confederates" and was something which they were "not pleased" about. The court heard shortly after this incident Semmens left Colombia "never to return". The barrister described his client as "naïve" and as a "fantasist" inhabiting a Walter Mitty world of a "lifestyle he sometimes thinks he has". He added that his client had profited little from in involvement in the cocaine business.
Andrew Evans, for Botto, said his client was "a plumber from Penlan" who, with work hard to come by following the Covid lockdowns, had returned to his old business of supplying drugs. He said Botto had been operating as a one-man-band from his unit in Brynhyfryd and now realised he had ruined the lives of his partner and her daughter and wished he had not returned to his old ways as a way out of his financial difficulties. The advocate said references written to the court on behalf of his client described him as a "fundamentally decent and honest person".
Nicholas Wells, for Williams, said his client had been involved as a courier working under the direction and instruction of others. He said Williams had served with the Royal Welsh Regiment for seven years and had been deployed to Basra in Iraq in 2003 where he witnessed "horrific events" including the bombing of a school bus. The barrister said Williams was subsequently medically discharged and diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and in 2011 the Ministry of Defence accepted liability and gave him £60,000. However he said a large part of the lump sum went on legal bills before the defendant bought and then due to his "reckless and impulsive behaviour" ruined an expensive car and he quickly found himself with very little of the payout left. Mr Wells said that while being held on remand in prison awaiting sentence the father-of-two had become a valued member of small group of veterans who were serving time.
James Wing, for White, described his client as a middle man connecting dealers dealers and suppliers and moving money. He said the defendant had not been working for a Class A drug crime group and had been working in a "quasi-self-employed capacity" for which he was paid on a commission basis and at the same time had still been working for family's glazing business. The barrister described the conspiracy between his client an Semmens to import cocaine as "largely fantasy" and said though the pair had discussed the plans and the large profits they hoped to make for some 15 months not a single gram of cocaine had ever actually been transported nor was it ever likely to be transported as they "did not have the money and did not have the wherewithal", adding "there was something almost comical about their ineptitude". Mr Wing said since being held on remand in prison the defendant had realised the devastating effect cocaine had on people, families, and communities and realised it was not, as he had previously thought, just a "party" drug or a drug you "take with friends in Spain". But the barrister said it was accepted White had made significantly more money from his second drugs business of importing cannabis from America and supplying it on to others – an enterprise for which he "kept the lion's share of the profits". He said White realised he had ruined his young son's future and realised he would not be there for his son for a considerable period to come.
Judge Huw Rees said defendants had been involved in the commercial-scale trafficking and dealing of the cocaine. He told them: "It goes without saying, but it seemingly needs to be said, sheer greed led you to profit from selling an insidious Class A drug without a thought or a care about the misery or danger being inflicted on others. To put it in short form – you were in it for the money and you must pay the consequences for your avarice".
With discounts for their guilty pleas he sentenced Semmens to 13 and a half years in prison, White to 15 years and four months behind bars, Botto to nine years and seven months in jail, and Williams to six years in prison. The defendants will serve up to half those periods in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
As part of the same operation Richard Philip Ronald Gerrard, aged 42, of Heysham Road, Heysham Lancashire, had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine alongside Semmens, White, Botto, and Williams and he has already been sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison.
Luke Thomas, aged 21, of Heol Llan, North Cornelly, had previously been sentenced to six months in prison suspended for 12 months and ordered to do 180 hours of unpaid work after pleading guilty conspiracy to supply cannabis which White had imported.
Speaking after the sentencing detective inspector Russ Jenkins from South Wales Police's force intelligence and organised crime unit said: "This was a complex and protracted investigation which resulted in the successful prosecution of a number of organised criminals. The web of conspirators were spread far and wide, crossing national borders and continents. As a direct result of this investigation South Wales Police are still actively engaging with other UK police forces and the National Crime Agency, along with our international partners, to disrupt the activities of those who seek to flood the streets of south Wales and the wider UK with cocaine.
"We are committed to tackling the most serious organised criminals who affect our communities. I would urge the public to contact us with any information they have. It may be the key piece of the jigsaw to assist us in prosecuting these serious and organised criminals."
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