Cocaine Cartel Smashed

Scotland Yard claimed to have “ripped out the heart” of Britain’s most powerful drugs network after a series of raids in London and Colombia.

Detectives said the leading players in a gang which had made more than £100m in the past 18 months by smuggling cocaine into the UK had been the targets.

In London more than 100 officers raided 17 homes of suspects and businesses allegedly involved in the laundering of drugs money. Ten men and two women, most of them from South America, were arrested.

Meanwhile the Colombian authorities raided 20 addresses and made at least 14 arrests. It is believed that the network may have links to Colombia’s Cali cartel.

Two arrests were also made in Spain.

The raids, the culmination of two years’ work on Operation Anuric by the Met’s secretive special projects unit, began at 6am when five unmarked police cars pulled up in front of a house in Holloway, north London.

A national news agency and a satellite broadcaster had been invited by the Met to witness the raids.

Two plain-clothes officers stationed themselves at the back of the house and four officers knocked at the front door. It was answered by the suspect’s Colombian wife. Her husband seemed calm as he was arrested.

Bags of documents and a computer were taken away, along with a filing cabinet and several thousand pounds in cash. The arrested man, a 49-year-old Spaniard, was brought out in handcuffs. Wearing tinted glasses, he smiled at reporters and said: “Hello, how are you? I’m fine, thank you.”

In Beckton, east London, search teams had been combing the home of a 38-year-old Colombian man.

When officers called at 6am, there had been no answer. After trying unsuccessfully to get in using a battering ram, the police were let in by through the garage by the suspect.

Another team had been sent to La Gran Colombia café in Holloway, which is used as money exchange and transfer point. The 49-year-old suspect is believed to be the manager of the café, and the 38-year-old its owner.

In Colombia, raids took place in the western cities of Cali and Pereira. Police seized cash, bullets and communications equipment.

Officers also fund documents showing that millions of pounds had been transferred from Europe to Colombia.

By mid-morning Scotland Yard was giving details of its operation. Officers described how the special projects unit, made up of 30 officers, had been monitoring the gang’s activities for two years.

They revealed that 20 alleged “minor players” in the organization had been charged with drugs and money-laundering offences and £20m worth of cocaine had been seized.

One courier allegedly linked to the gang was found to be carrying £250,000 in cash.

The police said the arrests were part of the move against the alleged “big players”: those responsible for importing drugs and getting the profits back to Colombia.

One of those arrested was allegedly the head of the UK side of the gang’s operation, and made frequent visits to South America.

The operation was praised by Sir John Stevens, the Metropolitan police commissioner, who said: “We will continue to work closely with our international counterparts to rid London’s streets of this evil trade.”

David Blunkett, the home secretary, said: “Foiling a major international drug and money-laundering operation like this is a key step in preventing Class A drugs from reaching our communities.”

Detective Chief Superintendent Sharon Kerr, the head of the Flying Squad, said the raids were “the final stage of an operation against a sophisticated and hard-to-penetrate criminal network.”

“It’s an example of how we can take out an entire criminal network from the top-tier organisers right down to those who peddle drugs on the streets.”

She added: “Often we have been nibbling around the edges, taking out the patsies.” But this operation was “about ripping out the heart of the network.”

Det Supt Kerr said the gang had made more than £100m in the past 18 months. The entire cocaine market in the UK is thought to be worth between £2bn and £3bn annually.

Detective Chief Inspector Martin Molloy, the head of the special projects unit, said two members of the gang had allegedly laundered £17m through one business in 12 months.

The Met said those arrested had been living deliberately “low-key” lifestyles.

Robert Goss, 21, who lived next to the house in Holloway, said: “The family was very quiet and I didn’t think anything was particularly strange about them. I even sometimes took packages for them from couriers.”

Neighbours of the family who lived in Beckton said they had “seemed very nice and friendly, but seemed rather well off without doing much.”

In Colombia, Teodoro Campo, the commander of the country’s police force, said his officers had been working with Scotland Yard on the case for eight months.

Jeff Choy

/ The Guardian, Dec.17, 2004/

DO YOU KNOW THAT…?

Cocaine use soars

· One of the UK’s leading drug experts, John Henry, said cocaine use was reaching epidemic proportions in the UK. He said there were believed to be around 358,000 occasional users and around 100,000 regular users of powdered cocaine. There are also thought to be some 178,000 crack cocaine users.

· Between 35 and 45 tonnes of cocaine is estimated to reach the UK annually. Most cocaine destined for the European market comes from Colombia in large shipments. Ships carrying the drug are met by smaller boats, and the cargo is landed in smaller quantities on the Iberian peninsula, from where it is taken overland by lorry, often via Holland.

· In London, the Metropolitan police recorded a rise of 27% in drug trafficking and possession offences in 2002-3.

· London is seen as the hub for distribution of powdered cocaine in the UK, but Liverpool, Birmingham and Bristol are also important.

· In the UK, 1kg of cocaine has a street value of up to £100,000. The UK market is estimated to be worth between £2bn and £3bn a year.

· Crack cocaine has traditionally been produced in small quantities and sold on the street-level dealers and users. More recently, gangs have begun to produce crack in larger quantities.

Set Work

I. Master the pronunciation of the words:

secretive garage

satellite bullet

Spaniard courier

comb (v) series.

II. Library research. Find information about:

Scotland Yard, Colombia.

III. Explain what is meant by the words and phrases below:

money laundering, in cash, a counterpart, a hard-to-penetrate network, top-tier organisers, “low-key” lifestyles, to rid sb of sth, battering ram.

IV. Supply the English equivalents of the words and word combinations:

разгромить, уничтожить; провозить контрабандой; как утверждают, якобы; штатская одежда; темные очки; наряд полиции; продавать нелегально.

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