Four men plead guilty in MASSIVE £40million heroin and cocaine smuggling case in Hertfordshire

A multi-agency investigation found that between November 2018 and August 2019, 39 deliveries of drugs were made from the Netherlands to a farm in Hunsdon, East Hertfordshire.

Two of the deliveries were intercepted by UK and Dutch authorities, with 45 kilos of heroin and 70 kilos of cocaine being seized.

The other 37 deliveries are believed to have contained around 350 kilos of cocaine and 1,485 kilos of heroin.

In total the organised crime group smuggled Class A drugs worth between £40million and £58million into the country, in what is Hertfordshire’s biggest ever drugs conspiracy.

Four men were arrested by officers from ERSOU last year, while a fifth man was arrested by police in the Netherlands.

Robert Brooks, 50, of Hertford, played a leading role in the deliveries and owned the Hertfordshire farm.

He was supported by Richard Campbell, 49, and Tomasz Wozniak, 29, both of Milton Keynes, who both played significant roles in assisting Brooks.

Stephen Capp, 56, of Hull, worked as a courier within the organised crime group. He was arrested on the M25 in December, with five kilograms of cocaine being found in his car.

The four men all pleaded guilty to offences in relation to the drugs importation at a hearing at St Albans Crown Court yesterday (Wednesday 15 January).

Pieter Mannessenn, 50, from Amsterdam, was arrested by Dutch authorities following the seizure of cocaine in Holland. He has since been sentenced to six years imprisonment in Holland.

Detective chief inspector Trevor Davidson, from Eastern Region Special Operations Unit, said: “This is the biggest ever drugs conspiracy Hertfordshire has seen, and the largest drugs conspiracy investigation in the history of the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit.

“We worked closely alongside Border Force, the National Crime Agency, and the police in the Netherlands on this operation, and it’s thanks to this partnership working, and the dedication of our officers, that we were able to uncover and arrest this group.

“Drug trafficking is a major source of revenue for organised crime groups, and a crime that causes real harm to communities across the country, which is why we’re committed to doing all we can and using our wide range of specialist tactics to ensure groups like this are uncovered and stopped."