Fugitive crime boss becomes 24th jailed for cannabis plot

20 May 2011

A drugs baron whose multi million pound drug supply business stretched from Kent to Newcastle today joined 23 co-conspirators behind bars.

Darren Finch, 40, from Maidstone, Kent, had been on the run since 2008 after breaking his bail conditions. He was arrested on an International Arrest Warrant in Cape Town in July 2010 after a joint operation between SOCA and the South African authorities. Twenty two members of the gang were jailed in 2008 for a total of 110 years.

The twenty third member, Michael McDonagh from Sligo in Ireland, was arrested by police in Amsterdam on a European Arrest Warrant in June 2009. He had been a fugitive since breaking his bail conditions. The following November he was jailed for seven years.

On jailing Finch today in Maidstone Crown Court, His Honour Judge Joy said: “The supply and importation of drugs is a scourge on society. Finch was a principal in this conspiracy, he was an organiser and his part was crucial.”

Darren Finch and Michael McDonagh headed up the organised crime gang which delivered cannabis and other drugs throughout England. The drugs were imported from Germany and the Netherlands hidden in lorry loads of legitimate goods. Having arrived in Kent the lorry driver, James Chapman, would take the drugs to one of two hubs from which the gang’s criminal activity was coordinated, St Margaret’s Farm in Dartford or Lested Lodge in Chart Sutton, Kent.  A network of distributors was then employed to deliver the drugs to the north west of England.

Finch and McDonagh tried to frustrate SOCA’s investigation by using multiple untraceable phones. When Finch was arrested by SOCA officers in November 2007, he attempted unsuccessfully to destroy and discard three phones and sim cards.

Financial investigations are currently underway into several members of the network including Finch. So far SOCA has been granted Confiscation and Forfeiture Orders totalling £1.5million.

SOCA’s Gerry Smyth said: “Finch seemed to think he could leave the rest of the gang to carry the can while he stayed out of harm’s way himself in Cape Town. He didn’t count on the excellent cooperation going on between the UK and South Africa. It’s probably not the reunion party he had in mind.”