Lincoln House Chambers Lead Prosecution Team in UK’s Largest Ever Drug Conspiracy
Andrew Thomas KC, Bill Baker KC and Marianne Alton from Lincoln House Chambers and Keith Sutton from 7 Harrington Street Chambers have successfully prosecuted conspiracies to import controlled drugs that are the largest ever detected.
The wholesale value of the drugs was estimated at up to £7 billion. The conspiracies took place over about 4 years with at least 240 individual shipments. The case was investigated by the NCA working with Dutch police and customs.
There have been two trials, the first of which (R v Paul Green and others) lasted 23 months – the UK’s longest criminal trial.
18 defendants have been convicted including 5 extradited from the Netherlands. The defendants were sentenced to more than 200 years imprisonment.
Rob Jones NCA Director General of Operations said: “without criminals like these there would be no youths dealing drugs across County Lines or murders where innocent members of the public were caught in the cross fire”.
Counsel were instructed by a CPS team including Sara Drysdale, Fran Gough, Nigel James, Tim McArdle, Anne McCracken and Victoria Norman.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czd4pevz474o.amp
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/drug-gang-paul-green-smuggling-onions-nca-b2657804.html
https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2024-12-02/britains-biggest-drug-smuggling-gang-jailed
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/drugs-gang-smuggled-7bn-cocaine-34237270
Fore more information, or to instruct Andrew Thomas KC, Bill Baker KC or Marianne Alton, please contact the Director of Clerking, David Wright.