Drugs gang jailed for scrap metal plot

28 May 2010

An organised crime gang which tried to import more than £10 million of Class A drugs hidden in huge consignments of scrap metal has been sentenced to a total of 45 years in prison.

Neil Tindling, Brandon Coates and Christopher Foile received jail terms of 22, 15 and eight years respectively for attempting to smuggle almost a quarter-tonne of cocaine into the UK from The Netherlands.

The sting saw SOCA officers intercept a shipment of 11 steel blocks on board a cargo vessel berthed at Rotterdam. When cut open, they revealed aluminum shells containing 224.46 kilograms of powder cocaine.

 
Officers replaced the drugs with sand, and the blocks were then welded shut and returned to the containers. With SOCA watching, the shipment continued its journey to the UK and its named recipient, Brandon Coates.

He paid £9,000 in cash for a consignment of scrap metal which should have been worth just £600.

Overseen by Tindling and Coates – who operated the forklift vehicle himself – the metal blocks were loaded onto a lorry at premises in Leytonstone, London, and driven to an isolated farm in rural Essex.

Officers quickly moved in and arrested Tindling, Coates, and Foile as they attempted to saw one of the blocks open.

All three pleaded guilty at Chelmsford Crown Court in September 2009.

Gerry Smyth, of SOCA, said:

“Welding nearly 225 kilos of cocaine inside metal blocks must have been time-consuming work and shows the extraordinary lengths criminals are prepared to go to for profit.”

“These men made the mistake of assuming that large containers of scrap metal would avoid scrutiny. SOCA and its partners are not so easily deterred.”

Ian Frost, of the Crown Prosecution Service Organised Crime Division, said:

“The CPS was engaged from an early stage alongside SOCA in their investigation into this case.

“We worked together with SOCA and the Dutch judicial authorities to put together a compelling case, which resulted in guilty pleas by all three defendants.”