Three jailed for roles in £58m Hunsdon drug smuggling ring

Three men have been jailed for their roles in a "sophisticated operation" which smuggled £58m of drugs to the UK.

Cocaine and heroin were shipped from Holland in 39 deliveries to a business unit on a farm in Hertfordshire, St Albans Crown Court heard.

The three men, aged between 28 and 56, were jailed after pleading guilty to drugs offences.

The operation was run by a fourth man, 50-year-old Robert Brooks, who will be sentenced next week.

Brooks, of Elder Court, Hertford, was described as the managing director of the English end of the operation that was connected to Europe and further afield, prosecutors said.

He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to fraudulently evade the prohibition on the importation of a Class A drugs and possession of criminal property.

The global operation, based in a rented unit at Little Samuels Farm in Hunsdon, was the largest ever drugs conspiracy investigated by the Eastern Regions Special Operations Unit, the court heard.

Last August officers intercepted the final two deliveries out of 39 and seized 70kg of cocaine and 45kg of heroin.

Prosecutor John Reily said it was assessed that the 39 deliveries were valued between £42m and £58m.

The drugs were hidden at the bottom of a consignment of small value goods such as spider catchers, the court heard.

Richard Campbell, 49, of Waterside, Milton Keynes, was the "warehouse manager", the court heard. He admitted conspiracy to evade the prohibition of Class A drugs and was sentenced the 13-and-a-half years in prison.

Stephen Capp, 56, of Old Lodges, Hull, acted as a courier taking drugs from the farm to the north of England. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply a drug of Class A and possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply and was jailed for nine years and six months.

Tomasz Wozniak, of Waterside, Milton Keynes, used a fork lift truck to unload boxes from a lorry into sheds and barns on the farm. The 28-year-old admitted conspiracy to supply a controlled drug of Class A and was sentenced to six years and three months imprisonment.

Sentencing, Judge Michael Kay QC said the men were part of a "highly organised and sophisticated operation at the top level of international drug dealing".

"Addiction to heroin and cocaine destroys the lives of hundreds of thousand of people," Judge Kay said.

"It causes heartbreak to parents, to children and to those who know addicts.

"It is also the cause a large element of crime in this country.

"Those who make money from such misery and degradation of fellow citizens will achieve substantial prison sentence.

"The business is not just illegal, it is immoral and despicable."