Operation Spoonbill: Teesside drugs gang jailed

(Clockwise from top left) John Watson, Steven Beazley, Craig Costello and David Wright were caught as part of Operation Spoonbill

Four men have been jailed for their part in an international smuggling ring which brought drugs into Teesside.

Craig Costello, 39, Steven Beazley, 40, and John Watson, 41, were found guilty last month of conspiring to supply millions of pounds of Class A drugs. David Wright, 43, had pleaded guilty.

The trial at Teesside Crown Court was the last linked to Cleveland Police's investigation which saw 33 convictions.

Det Ch Insp Sarah Robinson said "drugs cause misery in our communities".

"Cleveland Police's organised crime unit works tirelessly to disrupt and dismantle the networks of those who seek to profit from drugs," she said.

Nearly £350,000 of cash was recovered by police

Operation Spoonbill investigated four gangs, based in Liverpool and in Norton, Stockton and Guisborough on Teesside.

The Merseyside gang, led by Lance Kennedy, smuggled the cocaine from mainland Europe and transported it to Teesside to be distributed.

Members of Kennedy's gang, who were jailed last year, used a cottage owned by actress Miriam Margolyes, without her knowledge, as a helicopter drop-off point for the drugs, a court heard.

Pilots flew from Belgium to airfields in the south of England, deviating from their agreed flight paths to drop drugs into the grounds of isolated holiday homes which the gang had rented.

Blankets were laid out in the cottage grounds to guide the helicopter drops

It is estimated that 500kg of cocaine with a street value of £17.25m was smuggled into the UK and, in particular, the north-east of England.

Cleveland Police recovered more than £347,000 in cash, 20kg of cocaine, 10kg of cannabis, 6,000 ecstasy tablets and 6kg of amphetamine.

It said the investigation had been "an extremely complex and long running inquiry", focused on the "disruption and dismantling of a highly sophisticated organised crime group".

Costello, Beazley, Watson, and Wright, all from Middlesbrough, were caught after detectives stopped two drugs couriers in North Yorkshire and found £210,000 in their car.

Officers also recovered mobile phones which revealed incriminating details.

Wright, of Steele Crescent, was sentenced to eight years and seven months for conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

Costello, of Chesterfield Drive, was handed a sentence of nine years and six months for the same offence.

Watson, of Moorgate, and Beazley, of Barmouth Road, were sentenced to six years and seven years respectively, also for the same offence.