WIREDGOV

The last member of an organised crime group who ran a moped delivery service for class A drugs has been jailed for seven years.

The group bragged in a text message, sent to over 400 potential clients, that they could deliver anywhere “…within 30mins central London and within an hour anywhere else”.

Patrick Maloney (62) from Walworth, London - known as ‘Badger’ - was responsible for managing the younger members of the group and directing them where to deliver the drugs, using modified mopeds with ‘knowledge’ boards to mimic trainee taxi drivers. He was also in charge of the weekly cash payments and paying the drug runners their wages.

He and his son Joseph (34) were arrested along with 11 others in a series of coordinated strikes in March 2016, after officers from the joint NCA and Met Police Organised Crime Partnership had been conducting surveillance on the group.

Over £164,600 cash, more than 10 kilos of class A drugs, 14 kilos of cutting agent, over 100 mobile phones and six mopeds were seized during the raids. Analysis of mobile devices provided officers with information that the group was planning to import 70 kilos of cocaine from Ecuador to Spain, for onwards distribution across the UK.

Maloney was sentenced recently at the Old Bailey. 11 members of the group have already been sentenced to more than 60 years in prison, with Joseph receiving 15 years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Spencer Barnett from the Organised Crime Partnership said:

“Patrick Maloney is a career criminal, who has previously served time in prison for his role in the importation of over four tonnes of class B drugs. The knowledge and experience he provided helped the group distribute more than 40 kilos of cocaine, with an estimated wholesale value of £1.4m, across London over a period of three weeks in February 2016.

“He enforced discipline and directed members to go to elaborate lengths to stay under the radar of law enforcement, using safe houses, throw-away mobile phones and mopeds to try and avoid detection. 

“This group was responsible for distributing significant quantities of class A drugs across London. By taking them out, we have not only protected the public from harm but disrupted the importation of more than 70 kilos of cocaine and prevented the profits being reinvested in further crime. 

“The Organised Crime Partnership, along with law enforcement partners, will not stop in our endeavours to ensure serious and organised criminals face the consequences of their actions”.