Drugs worth £3.2m 'smuggled into UK in machinery'

The two-day sentencing hearing is at Ipswich Crown Court

A drug-smuggling operation brought cocaine and cannabis into the UK by hiding it inside two Tarmac removal machines, a court heard.

The drugs, the hearing was told, were found in two devices linked to the West Midlands, with the operation uncovered by a National Crime Agency (NCA) probe.

Three men have admitted conspiring to import class A and B drugs, along with money laundering.

Their sentencing, due to last two days, began at Ipswich Crown Court on Friday.

The court heard the NCA began an investigation following the discovery of information by Irish police in Dublin.

In October 2017, customs officials at Dover seized a consignment of 15kg of cocaine and 200kg of cannabis hidden inside the machinery, said prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones QC.

She said the estimated street value of the cocaine was £1.2m, and £2m for the cannabis.

Ms Karmy-Jones told the court the scheme involved drugs being imported from mainland Europe inside machinery and then "delivered by legitimate transportation and logistics companies".

Once in the UK, she added, the contraband would be removed and the machinery reloaded with cash and returned to the continent as payment.

'Revolver and ammunition'

Inquiries led officers to an industrial unit in Wednesbury, West Midlands, where they found, the barrister said, a transformer adapted for concealment that contained a Smith and Wesson 357 revolver gun and 85 rounds of ammunition inside a black holdall.

Analysis of encrypted Blackberry phones seized at other addresses identified 22 further importations, the court heard.

Thomas Kavanagh, 54, of Tamworth, Staffordshire, was referred to in the encrypted messages as "the gaffer", Ms Karmy-Jones said.

She told the court Gary Vickery, 39, of Solihull, was "immediately beneath" Kavanagh, while 43-year-old Daniel Canning, Vickery's brother-in-law, also of Solihull, was "subordinate to Vickery".

Canning has also admitted possessing a firearm and ammunition.

Kavanagh has 16 previous convictions dating back to 1985, the most recent of which, in the UK, was in September 2019 for possession of a disguised firearm, a stun gun, discovered during a search of his home address, for which he received a three-year jail term.