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24 Hours in Police Custody: Drug smuggling ring busted by boss' dashcam

Channel 4 Robert Brooks being interviewed by policeChannel 4
Robert Brooks's own dashcam captured drugs being distributed from his business unit on a farm in Hertfordshire

The leader of a £58m drug smuggling ring was jailed after his own dashcam recorded cocaine and heroin being distributed from a Hertfordshire farm.

Robert Brooks was sentenced to 21 years in prison for importing Class A drugs.

It was the largest ever drugs conspiracy investigated by the region's police and has been documented on Channel 4's 24 Hours in Police Custody.

An officer said "it would have been a lot harder" to convict Brooks without the footage.

Channel 4 Dashcam footageChannel 4
The dashcam in Brooks's car captured Stephen Capp collecting drugs from Little Samuels Farm in Hundson

The officer for the Eastern Regions Special Operations Unit, who is remaining anonymous, said Brooks's "complacency, stupidity and lack of attention to detail" meant his dashcam recorded drugs being collected from his business unit on Little Samuels Farm in Hunsdon.

"I'm still quite shocked Brooks was stupid enough to have it in his car and have it recording when someone picked up the commodity," he said.

Channel 4 Drugs in spider catcher boxesChannel 4
The drugs were hidden under a consignment of small value goods such as spider catchers

Brooks, 51, of Elder Court, Hertford, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to fraudulently evade the prohibition on the importation of Class A drugs and possession of criminal property, and was jailed in September.

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

In August 2019 officers from the Eastern Regions Special Operations Unit intercepted the final two deliveries out of 39 and seized 70kg (154lb) of cocaine and 45kg (99lb) of heroin.

It was assessed that the 39 deliveries were valued between £42m and £58m.

Channel 4 Shipment of drugsChannel 4
Brooks was believed to have been paid between £15,000 and £20,000 for each shipment, of which there were sometimes two per week

The officer said the dashcam footage enabled them to identify Stephen Capp, who acted as a courier transporting the drugs to the north of England.

"Officers had to watch hours of footage of nothing on the dashcam in order to find a five minute snippet of gold," he said.

"They [the criminals] were operating at an extremely high level and were well connected in the UK and internationally. They had pulled it off 37 times before and after every success maybe they got a bit complacent."

Capp, 56, of Old Lodges, Hull, 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.

ERSOU Richard Campbell, Stephen Capp and Tomasz WozniakERSOU
Richard Campbell, Stephen Capp and Tomasz Wozniak were jailed in September

Also jailed for their roles in the multimillion-pound operation were Richard Campbell and Tomasz Wozniak.

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

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

The two-part programme on the case will be broadcast on Channel 4 at 21:00 GMT on 8 and 9 November.

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