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Old 18th Oct 2001, 13:29
  #30 (permalink)  
The Guvnor
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Cool

From today's Telegraph:

Six held over runway cocaine
By David Sapsted
(Filed: 18/10/2001)

POLICE were continuing to question six men last night after Customs officers seized half a ton of cocaine when it was thrown from a cargo plane on to an airport runway.

The haul, with a street value of £32 million to £100 million - depending how it was cut - was the largest single seizure of cocaine flown into Britain.

The drug was packed into suitcases and hurled from the Boeing 707 as it landed at Southend Airport at 9pm on Tuesday. A Customs spokesman said: "The plane taxied to the end of the runway where it stopped. The cargo doors were opened and six huge suitcases were thrown out.

"The plane then taxied to the terminal building. It appears the plan was that the cocaine would be picked up later on."

However, around 30 undercover Customs officers stormed the aircraft and arrested five crew members and an airport worker; four Britons, a Nigerian and a Serb.

The plane, which was impounded, was found to have no other cargo. The men were taken to central London and were being questioned at an undisclosed location last night.

The six suitcases each containing about 200lbs of cocaine were so big and heavy that they needed three officers to carry each one. It is believed the suitcases were to be collected later.

Officers believe that cocaine was smuggled to the Caribbean from South America. The aircraft took off from Jamaica on Sunday night and stopped at Las Palmas in the Canary Islands before heading for Southend.


Knowing CB-J's propensity for wriggling out of things - and for screwing other people - it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if it was him that tipped off customs in exchange for the usual reward, what is it - 10% of the value of the seizure? It would be rather a lot more than he might have got for transporting it!