44 years for career criminals who planned to flood the UK with drugs

23 April 2010

A network of career criminals who were planning to flood the streets with drugs have been jailed for a total of over 44 years following a joint operation between UK and overseas law enforcement agencies.

The quantities of drugs they were going to import were so large they bought an industrial cement mixer to help them bulk the drugs with cutting agents.

Anthony Spencer, aged 61, of Keresley, Coventry, who has been in and out of prison for over 40 years for drugs, firearms, fraud and theft, was head of the 15-strong network. He was jailed again today for another five years three months at Birmingham Crown Court after pleading guilty to conspiracies to supply and import amphetamine and cannabis.

SOCA worked jointly with Warwickshire Police, West Midlands Police and the Dutch Police to dismantle the entire network.

Spencer and his criminal associates were under surveillance for months. Officers watched meetings at locations in Coventry, Sheffield, Kent and Amsterdam. They saw the gang burying purpose-built safes which could store up to 140 kilos of drugs, filmed a cash handover, and watched as drugs changed hands.

Intelligence sharing with the Dutch Police led to the discovery of a farm in Zwanenburg, Amsterdam, which was being used as a drugs warehouse, and a flat in Ijplein, Amsterdam, that officers described as ‘an Aladdin’s cave’ of drugs paraphernalia, including a pill making machine. Class A and class B drugs were also recovered.

Spencer and the network’s Dutch contingent were arrested in January 2009 when a team of heavily armed officers used a bulldozer to get into the farm. One hundred kilos of amphetamine and fifty kilos of cannabis were seized. Spencer was extradited to the UK in April 2009. At this point, officers moved in to arrest the UK end of the operation.

Evidence indicates that the gang was planning to significantly increase the scale of their operation. Early success in bringing amphetamine and cannabis into the UK had led to considerable investment in the logistics for transporting, storing and distributing much larger quantities of all classes of drugs. At the time of Spencer’s arrest, he was talking about importing two to three loads a week.

SOCA Deputy Director Andy Sellers said:

"These are career criminals who wanted to make a lot of money through drug trafficking with no regard for the harm they would cause communities and individuals. They spent a long time planning how they were going to flood the UK with vast quantities of drugs but we were one step ahead of them. We were watching their every move and the evidence obtained was so strong they had no choice but to plead guilty”.

For more information see the SOCA press release and other pictures