The National Crime Agency was able to see their communications after the EncroChat server was hacked
Two Londoners have been jailed for their role in a plot to smuggle more than 600kg of cannabis into the UK using a sailing yacht. Kane Ward of Upminster and John Campbell of Kilburn were part of an organised crime group jailed for a combined 111 years after detectives hacked into their EncroChat conversations.
The group, which involved people across England and Wales. had initially hatched an audacious plan to smuggle 600kg of cocaine on a yacht by taking part in a transatlantic sailing race. After this was called off due to COVID, leading players Lee McClenaghan and Lea Talbot, both from Essex, instead drew up multiple plans on different yachts to bring illegal drugs into the UK.
One such idea involved smuggling multi-tonne quantities of cocaine from South America hidden in shipping container loads of fresh fruit and vegetables, while another plan would see large quantities of cannabis smuggled from Morocco.
Chelmsford Crown Court also heard that McClenaghan arranged two separate importations of cannabis to the UK, from Canada and South Africa, totalling 676 kilos. National Crime Agency investigators were also able to evidence links between the OCG and the two major cannabis importations.
In March 2022, whilst searching the inside of a machine lathe, Border Force officers at Tilbury Port in Essex found 408 kilos of the drug, which had come from South Africa. McClenaghan was again the main driver behind this, assisted by Daniel Braithwaite and 61-year-old Paul Tozer, from Epping, Essex, whose textile business was to be the delivery address for the consignment.
They were also helped by 52-year-old Karl Richter, from Swansea, who communicated with a South African contact, and worked with 60-year-old Kane Ward, from Upminster in East London who helped organise the planned importation.
In July 2023, Border Force officers at Southampton examined a consignment of tool boxes imported from Vancouver. Within the load were 20 large tower toolboxes containing 268 kilos of cannabis.
This importation was assisted by Talbot and 41-year-old Stephen Persaud, from Upminster, Essex, a freight forwarder whose company managed loads into various ports, and 37-year-old Sundeep Grewal, from Grays, Essex, who ran a food business in Tilbury which was used a delivery address for the importation. They were again helped by Paul Tozer.
John Campbell, 69, from Kilburn assisted by creating fraudulent payments to release the consignment and offered many services to criminals such as McClenaghan, including creating false companies.
London pair John Campbell and Kane Ward were jailed for 10 years and six months and six months respectively. McClenaghan, Talbot, Braithwaite and Magee were received sentences of 30 years, 23 years, 22 years and 20 years respectively.
Richter is due to be sentenced on October 16.
‘The seizure stopped communities suffering violence and exploitation’
Detective Inspector Richard Smith, from the Organised Crime Partnership, said: “The cocaine smuggling plan conceived by McClenaghan and Talbot was daring and would have been incredibly lucrative had it succeeded. Its failure deprived organised criminals of the profits this large amount of cocaine would have generated, and prevented communities suffering the violence and exploitation associated with it.
“Undeterred, this OCG diversified into importing huge quantities of cannabis, operations which McClenaghan controlled at every level. The work undertaken by the Organised Crime Partnership, along with the vigilance of Border Force officers at Tilbury and Southampton, stopped these smuggling attempts in their tracks.
“This case is yet another great example of the unique collaboration between the National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police, with the Organised Crime Partnership protecting Londoners and communities across the UK from the scourge of drugs supply.”
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