From the
Crown Prosecution Service:
Members of a cocaine smuggling gang have been sentenced to a total of 25 years in prison after a helicopter was used to transport the drug into the UK from France.
The helicopter had hidden trapdoors under the seats to store drugs. A smuggler would fly the drugs into Lydd Airport in Kent from Calais and drop them off at two hotels nearby. The drugs would then be unpacked and transported onwards by car in hidden compartments to be sold across the country.
Ringleader Frederic Fagnoul, 50, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to importing and supplying drugs. Two other men admitted conspiracy to supply the drugs onward in the UK in a supply chain which is believed to have been gone on for at least three months. He was sentenced to 17 years and six months’ imprisonment today.
Fagnoul, a Belgian national, rented a helicopter and pilot to bring the cocaine into the country via the hotels he was staying.
I/C