Organised Crime | Pleading Guilty

In December 2023, the National Crime Agency seized vast quantities of cocaine and cannabis, smuggled by a cross-channel organised gang led by Anthony Terry and Michael Collis.

In an article published by the National Crime Agency on December 8h, Anthony Terry, 49, from Wolverhampton, was head of this organised crime group that imported £1.6 million of cocaine from the Netherlands to England, and then across by ferry to Northern Ireland.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) officers seized the drugs when they arrived at Belfast Port in February 2021. The drugs had been hidden in a van’s fuel tanks. The group used the encrypted messaging service Encrochat to communicate and the NCA also tracked other tones when Terry had smuggled drugs and cash for other organised crime gangs.

In 2020, Terry and Collis organised the trafficking of 17.5 kilos of cocaine, 10 kilos of cannabis, and a vacuum packing machine, a significant amount of which was taken to the Republic of Ireland. A couple of weeks later, Collis picked up 18 kilos of cocaine in the Netherlands. He would then deliver 10 kilos to dealers in the UK before taking the rest to Ireland. The final drug run of cannabis captured on Encrochat occurred in 2020, where the drugs were transported to Northern Ireland by ferry before being driven across the country to be dropped off in Ireland.

NCA officers worked closely with the Police Service of Northern Ireland and An Garda Síochána in the Republic to track the movements of these large quantities of drugs. The NCA’s Operation Venetic has now taken down the Encrochat platform.

Terry and Collis both pleaded guilty to drug trafficking in April. Drivers Kothiria and Khan were convicted in May following a trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court. Terry was jailed for 25 years (a sentence that would run alongside an 18-year sentence he was already serving at the time for cocaine trafficking. Collis was jailed for 12 years and 6 months. NCA Branch Commander Mick Pope said: “These criminals were determined to smuggle drugs’. He also commented ‘They did not care about the geography of their crimes when in pursuit of pure profit.’

This recent case is useful for applying Unit 4 topics including the organisation of the criminal justice system, including pleas and trials. This also links to the contribution, and effectiveness, of agencies to achieving social control. Finally, this case has some useful examples of sentencing and could spark some useful discussions about the aims of punishment.

Read more with the following references:

Read the full article here: https://www.nationalcrimeagenc...

The BBC also reported on this case:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-...