Posted on 02/27/2006 5:28:17 PM PST by blam
'Bling Bling' crack cocaine gang jailed
(Filed: 27/02/2006)
Ten members of a global cocaine smuggling empire which produced £3 million worth of the drug every week have been jailed for terms ranging from five to 27 years.
The first to be jailed was Ian "Bowfoot" Dundas-Jones, of east London, who got 27 years. The 35-year-old, who was also recommended for deportation, was convicted in September last year of importing cocaine and manufacturing crack.
The gang used special vases to smuggle cocaine
Bernard "Kofi" Clarke, 31, from Romford, Essex, was jailed for 18 years and recommended for deportation after pleading guilty to importing cocaine and manufacturing and supplying crack.
His lover Lisa Bennett, 39, another of the gang's main members of South Tottenham, north London, admitted manufacturing crack and money laundering offences. She received a similar sentence.
Dundas-Jones's wife Sandra, 44, got 10 years for cocaine smuggling, while Segun Fisher, 29, of Peckham, south east London, was found guilty of importing cocaine and possessing it with intent to supply and was jailed for 14 years.
Clyde Benjamin, from Kennington, south London, admitted smuggling cocaine into Britain and was jailed for 12 years at a separate hearing.
The gang, which ran one of the biggest crack cocaine smuggling networks ever to operate in Britain, spanned several countries, with as many as 51 members based in the world's most fashionable cities: London, Paris and New York.
In addition to those jailed in Britain, 25 have been imprisoned in France and 10 in the United States for involvement in what senior Scotland Yard officers have described as a "sophisticated global conspiracy".
The gang are known to have imported at least £48 million of cocaine and produced crack with a street value of up to £3 million every week for two years.
They rented a terraced house in East Ham, east London, solely for the purpose of converting the raw cocaine into the more physiologically addictive crack.
The couriers, who travelled through Europe from the Caribbean, used specially adapted shampoo or perfume containers, vases, rum bottles or suitcases to smuggle the cocaine, either in powder, paste or liquid form, into Britain.
They couriers would also be expected to smuggle tens of thousands of pounds out of Britain and back to the Caribbean.
The gang used the vast proceeds to indulge their expensive tastes; Prada jeans, Cartier jewellery, Rolex watches. Everything was paid for in cash. Police found receipts for £450,000 worth of goods.
Some of the boys
That's some heavy duty addiction.
3 million British pounds is approximately 5.3 million dollars .....a week! Every week. TO be honest with you I do not see why they would continue doing this ......I would (were I a criminal) personally 'work' for maybe 2 months, and then give the entire biz to someone else (I wouldn't even want to keep any ties to the setup). Too much risk trying to keep this baby moving forward perpetually, however a couple of weeks of hard 'work' could have nigh anyone well set for life. Let others be worried about staying ahead of the cops. I'd find a nice tropical place (without extradition treaties of course) and live well on coconut juice and exotic women with names that are impossible to pronounce.
For the higher ups, maybe? It would be interesting to follow the money here.
Could be. In most cases most people who are caught are only the small-fry. The prime movers are almost always never caught. Once the small fry get caught they are replaced in less time than it takes to say 'fascimile,' and in most cases there is no disruption in the flow. The cops are happy because they caught someone, the prime movers are happy because they are still making money, the junkies are happy since their supply of drugs is uninterrupted, the drug production pipeline is happy since they are still getting renumerated for producing the drugs ....the only people not happy are the small fry. I dooubt there is any real surge to shut down the process.
Well, if retail price is roughly GBP 40 / gram, then they were moving around 75 kg per week. That's quite a bit of coke!
I'm sorry. I'm clueless about coke. I will take your word.
LOL! Is that New Jack City?
Does anyone outside of Hollywood and the MSM really use the term "Bling Bling?"
LOL. The moment you hear those words being used by the MSM you can be 100% certain that their sell-by date has come and gone.
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