Police cracked a 58 million pound drug smuggling operation being run from a business unit on a Hertfordshire farm.
Cocaine and heroin had been shipped from Holland in 39 separate deliveries to a rented a unit at Little Samuels Farm in Hunsdon (near Ware).
It was the largest-ever drugs conspiracy investigated by the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit, St Albans Crown Court heard on Friday, September 18, 2020.
Brooks worked with encrypted phones, which cost £15,000 per contract, and used the name ‘Jaguar Palace’. Sometimes he was not present and directed operations from Spain, said the prosecutor. Co-defendant Richard Campbell, 49, was the ‘warehouse manager.’
Tomasz Wozniak, 28, was a hired hand who used a fork lift truck to unload boxes from a lorry into sheds and barns at the rented unit.
Stephen Capp, 56, was a courier who went to the farm 18 times to collect drugs to deliver to the north of England.
Brooks, of Elder Court, Hertford will be sentenced on Friday, September 25,) having pleaded guilty to conspiracy to fraudulently evade the prohibition on the importation of a Class A drugs and possession of criminal property between November 2018 and August 2019.
Robert Brooks, 50, was described as the managing director of the English end of the organised crime network that was connected to Europe and much further afield, said prosecutor John Riley.
Richard Campbell of Waterside, Milton Keynes and Tomasz Wozniak, of the same address, admitted conspiracy to fraudulently evade the prohibition on the importation of a controlled drugs of Class A. A fourth defendant Stephen Capp of Old Lodges, Hull pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply a drug of Class A on 18 visits to the farm.
He also admitted possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply when he was stopped in December 2019 with 5 kilos of drugs.
Pieter Mannessen received six years in Holland following the seizure of 70kg of cocaine that was due to be delivered to the farm.
Richard Campbell of Waterside, Milton Keynes admitted conspiracy to evade the prohibition of Class A drugs and was jailed for 13 and a half years.
Tomasz Wozniak, of the same address, admitted conspiracy controlled drugs of Class A. He was jailed for six years and three months.
Stephen Capp of Old Lodges, Hull pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply a drug of Class A on 18 visits to the farm.
He also admitted possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply when he was stopped in December 2019 with 5 kilos of Class A drugs. In his car was a ‘sophisticated’ hiding place for the drugs. He was sentenced to nine years six months.
Pieter Mannessen received six years in Holland following the seizure of 70kg of cocaine that was due to be delivered to the farm.
Mr Riley said in August last year the network’s last two deliveries were intercepted. 45 kilos of heroin and 70 kilos of cocaine were seized.
Taking into account the 39 deliveries he said it was assessed that 1,835 kilos of Class A drugs had been imported. The total value was between £42 million and £58 million. Laban Leake said Campbell was ‘sincerely remorseful’ having seen the effect drugs have on inmates at Bedford prison since his arrest.
He said he had become bankrupt in 2012 and had been of effective good character. He read references from two prison officers.
David Osborne, for Wozniak, said he was in a ‘markedly different’ position from others in the case. He was in a lesser role and was ‘groomed bit by bit’. He said Polish-born Wozniak was a lowly labourer and had a drug addiction, wh had only become involved later on in the conspiracy.
For Capp, Andrew Corcut said he said he was of blameless character before his arrest. He said Capp had gone bankrupt from a business and was in debt. His role in the conspiracy was as a freight driver, a job he had previously held, he said. Judge Michael Kay QC will sentence this afternoon.
