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Gang jailed over £140m fake company cocaine plot

National Crime Agency A mugshot of a middle-aged man with long hair and a beard. National Crime Agency
Gang leader Darryn Schofield has been jailed for 20 years

Members of a gang have been jailed over a plan to import £140m of cocaine into the UK using a fake company which claimed to handle returned goods from Amazon and Argos.

Darryn Schofield, 45, who was the leader of a Merseyside gang, set up the rogue firm with Stephen Martland, 70, and Paul Mockett, 50, to mask the importation of the drugs, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

Schofield, of Liverpool, and Mockett, of Chorley, earlier admitted conspiracy to import cocaine, while Martland, also of Chorley, was convicted after a trial over the 1.3 tonne importation plot.

Schofield was given a 20-year sentence at Liverpool Crown Court, while Mockett was sentenced to 13 years and Martland was given a 21-year jail term.

National Crime Agency Two mugshots side by side of two middle-aged men. The one on the left has short hair and stubble while the one on the right has long hair and a beard. National Crime Agency
Stephen Martland and Paul Mockett were sentenced to 21 and 13 years' jail respectively

The NCA said the drugs were supposed to be delivered from Africa to an industrial unit in Wigan but were intercepted in August 2022 by Border Force officers at a port in Suffolk.

The gang had rented a unit saying it would be used "for the storage of house clearance items plus pallets of returned goods from Amazon, Argos and other relevant retailers that need to sell their returns".

The agency said the trio was arrested in November 2023 after a "painstaking investigation".

During the course of the inquiry, NCA officers said they found Schofield, of St Phillips Avenue, Liverpool, had another property used to "adulterate and mix drugs".

Mockett, of Stump Lane, Chorley, Lancashire, had also set up another fake company which was used to buy chemicals "for the adulteration of cocaine".

National Crime Agency Bllue and white clingwrapped bags of cocaine in the bottom of a large trailer. National Crime Agency
The drugs were intercepted by Border Force officers at a port in Suffolk

NCA branch commander Jon Sayers said: "Illegal drugs supply has horrific consequences as we have tragically seen in recent years with entirely innocent members of the public hurt and killed in the crossfire of feuding gangs."

"We will continue to do everything we can with policing partners and Border Force to prevent illegal drugs supply," he added.

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