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Gang who used dog biscuits to hide cannabis importation are jailed for 28 years

Four men who smuggled cannabis with a street value of more than £2.1m into the UK have been jailed for a total of 28 years following a NCA investigation.



The organised crime network, headed by Kevin Downes, 57, hid three-quarters of a tonne of the Class B drug in bags of dog biscuits in an attempt to conceal the smell.

Along with his brother, John Downes, 58, and fellow gang members Brian Chapman, 64 and pensioner Thomas Abrahams, 73, the four were jailed at the Old Bailey recently (Friday 17 August).

Brothers Kevin, 57 and John Downes, 58, from Bermondsey, South London were jailed for nine years and 10 months and seven years and four months respectively.

Brian Chapman, 64, also from Bermondsey was sentenced to five years and four months.
All three had pleaded guilty at earlier court hearings to conspiracy to import controlled drugs into the UK.

Abrahams, from Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent was jailed for five years and six months after being found guilty following a two-week trial which ended on 28, June 2018.

The investigation revealed that Kevin Downes arranged the importation of drugs to be delivered to a fictional company called ‘Levante European’.

Using his knowledge of the local area, his accomplice, Abrahams arranged for the drugs to be delivered to an industrial unit based at a remote farmland location in Kent.

Enquiries by NCA officers showed the drugs were collected from Guadarrama, Spain, on 26, September, 2016. The consignment was driven into the UK by a legitimate delivery company unaware of their illegal cargo.

By this time, NCA investigators were tracking the gang and surveillance officers watched as the drugs were unloaded from the van by John Downes at an industrial unit on Lower Road, Sheerness, Kent on 30 September, 2016 at about 11.00am. Downes was then arrested.


The boxes were opened and a number of taped packages containing cannabis resin were discovered hidden under bags of dog food.

Two hours later at about 1.00pm, Kevin Downes and Brian Chapman were seen travelling in a car onto the Isle of Sheppey. They stopped at a shop near to the rented unit, where they were arrested by NCA investigators.

The following month on 28 October, Thomas Abrahams was arrested by NCA and Kent Police officers at his home address in Sheerness.

Jacque Beer, NCA Branch Commander recently said:

“Today’s sentencing marks the end of a long investigation that was undertaken over a number of months, in which we worked closely with our colleagues from Kent and Essex police.



“This is a significant disruption of an organised crime network intent on bringing illegal drugs into the UK.

“The Downes’ brothers, Chapman and Abrahams are career criminals. They were all seeking to profit from the misery that illegal drugs cause our communities.

“The cannabis had a street value of more than £2.1 m and no doubt the proceeds would have funded further criminality.

“We take all importations of illegal drugs seriously and this joint policing operation has prevented a substantial quantity of drugs from ending up on our streets.”

 

Channel website: http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/

Original article link: http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/1448-gang-who-used-dog-biscuits-to-hide-cannabis-importation-are-jailed-for-28-years

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