A HIGH-LEVEL drug dealer said to have had links to an Albanian crime gang has been jailed over a plot to smuggle 139 kilos of cocaine worth £11m into the UK - hidden in a consignment of bananas.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) said Robert Ball, from Trafford, 'oversaw the nuts and bolts' of the conspiracy on the ground together with an accomplice, Mirgent Shahu. Four members of the organized crime group, including Ball, have now been jailed.
All four were captured on covert surveillance as gang members ripped open the roof of a shipping container they thought the smuggled drugs were inside, but it was empty and police pounced.
The NCA said its investigators had previously removed the drugs and then tracked the container straight to the gang to make the arrests in April, last year. The container had arrived from Ecuador and was searched at London Gateway port.
Denne historien er fra November 02, 2023-utgaven av Manchester Evening News.
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Denne historien er fra November 02, 2023-utgaven av Manchester Evening News.
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