Hertfordshire based gang convicted after importing cocaine worth £4m in aircraft
Members of a gang based in Hertfordshire running a sophisticated drug smuggling operation have been convicted.
They used a small aircraft to drop cocaine packages in the Dorset countryside, counter terrorism policing group, Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU), has revealed.
Members of the gang, that also had a base in Essex, used a car wash business as a front for criminal activity, which involved a plane flying from France and jettisoning the parcels for collection.
Four members of the organised crime group (OCG) have now been convicted, after Tomas Bauza, 44, of Colson Road, Loughton in Essex, was yesterday (25 February) found guilty following a trial at St Albans Crown Court.
It was discovered by the police that the group was communicating with contacts abroad to bring in the drugs, with flights leaving from the Cherbourg area of northern France.
A spokesperson for the regional crime unit has revealed that planes would intentionally avoid radar systems and disable transponders which alert other pilots of their whereabouts, dangerously flying without the required documentation needed when entering UK airspace.
Police officers recorded at least three instances when flights were made to southern England before immediately returning to France. Each time, either Rolandas Bauza 47, also of Colson Road, Loughton, or associate Martynas Piecia, 37 of, Holst Lane, Thaxted, drove to the same location and were waiting to collect the parcels.
Arjan Lisaj, 33, of Barrells Down Road, Bishop’s Stortford, who worked at the car wash, made up the quartet. He was arrested in September 2024 alongside Rolandas Bauza and Piecia a short distance from the site in Spellbrook, Hertfordshire.
When arrested by ERSOU, Rolandas was found in possession of £37,000 in cash, with officers also retrieving a phone which Lisaj had thrown into a stream as police arrived. Two kilogramme-sized blocks of cocaine were subsequently discovered in an office during a search of the car wash.
The spokesperson adds that simultaneously, ERSOU detectives raided the home address of the Bauza brothers in Loughton, where Tomas was located and detained. A search of the property uncovered 54kg of cocaine in two holdalls stored in the loft, along with evidence the house had been used as a cannabis factory.
According to police data the combined cocaine packages were judged to have a street value of £4.2 million.
Detectives found that in the days prior to the shipment being flown into the UK, the Bauza brothers had travelled to Dorset to explore potential drop sites.
A piece of paper found inside the packaging of one of the cocaine parcels which contained Tomas Bauza’s fingerprints, also became key evidence.
Searches of vehicles associated with the group also identified an aviation radio and papers with sets of drop-off coordinates, ERSOU revealed.
Detectives examined digital devices post-arrest and found a video on Piecia’s phone showing him examining and unwrapping a cocaine package which matched those later seized at the car wash.
After being apprehended, all four were charged with being concerned in the importation and supply of controlled drugs into the UK.
Lisaj and Piecia previously admitted the offences, with Rolandas Bauza also pleading guilty at the start of a trial. Tomas Bauza was found guilty of supplying controlled drugs following a trial.
The jury found that Tomas Bauza was not guilty of the importation charge.
All four are due to be sentenced at St Albans Crown Court on 4 August.
Detective Inspector Daniel Barker, from ERSOU’s ROCU, said: “It’s clear that this group had put significant thought and planning into how they could best bring class A drugs into the UK, and they went to great lengths in attempting to hide their illicit activities.
“However, the tenacity of ERSOU’s investigators let to our teams uncovering vast amounts of evidence implicating each member of the OCG, and we were able to stop a significant amount of cocaine entering our communities.
“We work closely with UK police forces and partner agencies abroad to ensure that those involved in serious criminality such as this are apprehended and brought to justice.”