Tuesday, May 28, 2024 - Six semi-professional footballers behind £260million cocaine empire operating across Britain have been jailed for a total of 104 years.
Police busted the squad after they caught Luke Skeete, 26,
while he was driving a small panel van which had 8kg of Class A drugs
packed in the rear.
Officers arrested Skeete and a further 123kg of cocaine and
224kg of ketamine were recovered from storage units he controlled in
Acton and Chiswick, West London.
Specialist detectives also discovered a secure messaging app on Skeete's seized mobile phone linking him to five fellow semi-professional footballers as follows:
Chesham United FC's Shaquille Hippolyte-Patrick, 29, of
North Kensington;
FK Senica's Jamarl Joseph, 28, of Wembley,
North West London;
Enfield Town FC's Adam Pepara, 35, of Solihull, West
Midlands;
Harrow Borough FC's Andrew Harewood, 34, of North
Acton, West London; and
Margate FC's Melchi Emanuel-Williamson, 29, also of
North Acton.
Each had an individual handle to conceal their identity, but
these were uncovered by experts - and their chats 'demonstrated and evidenced a
sophisticated, professional business model the group were operating
to supply cocaine through the UK'.
Detectives say they spent 'countless hours' examining CCTV
which showed the gang coming and going from the storage unit with drugs
concealed in holdalls and boxes.
And police eventually determined that the gang had all
conspired between April and October 2022 to supply more than 2.7 tonnes
of high-grade cocaine with an estimated street value of £ to £
260 million.
The group were sentenced to a total of more than a century
in prison at Isleworth Crown Court on May 17 having all pleaded guilty at an
earlier hearing to conspiracy to supply controlled class A drugs, namely
cocaine; and conspiracy to supply controlled class B drugs, namely ketamine.
Pepara was jailed for 24 years; Hippolyte-Patrick was jailed for 18 years and nine months; and Joseph was jailed for 17 years and six months.
Harewood was jailed for 16 years and one month;
Emanuel-Williamson was jailed for 14 years; and Skeete was jailed for 13 years
and one month.
Skeete had previously been jailed for 15 years at the same
court in July last year.
This came after he pleaded guilty to two counts of
possession with intent to supply class A drugs (cocaine), possession with
intent to supply class B drugs (ketamine), supplying cocaine, and driving while
disqualified.
Police Constable Perry, from the Metropolitan Police's
Specialist Crime North team, said: 'The operation we've dismantled here is not
some minor undertaking, involving a group of chancers – this is a highly
organised criminal group who were supplying drugs on an industrial scale
throughout the UK.
'The sentences received reflect the gravity of what they had
been doing. This is a criminal group who had otherwise promising careers –
semi-pro footballers with other jobs and courses they were undertaking – but
they were motivated by making money from drugs that fuel misery and violence on
our streets.
'Anyone else wondering if they can make cash from this type
of activity should take a look at these sentences and
think again because it's only a matter of time before you are
caught.'
The investigation saw Specialist Crime officers carry out arrest warrants at addresses linked to the group in London and Birmingham on September 28 last year.
Police confirmed all of the individuals in question were
located, arrested, charged, and remanded in custody.
Detective Constable Janes, also from the Specialist Crime
North team, said: 'With Skeete's arrest we brought this house of cards down.
'After he was detained we secured valuable evidence on his
mobile phone, helping us launch another investigation that led to us
identifying his conspirators.
'Forensic examination of that device and invaluable CCTV
evidence helped us compile a case so compelling that none of them had any
choice but to plead guilty.'
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