Five men were convicted by a jury at Winchester Crown Court on Thursday 7th March 2024 following a nine-week trial in relation to a cocaine importation conspiracy involving at least 118kg of cocaine worth nearly £9.5m. They were sentenced on Friday 8th March.
On Friday 8th March, proceedings concluded against five men at the Winchester Crown Court who were sentenced for their part in a substantial cocaine importation operation that had operated in the Spring of 2020.
Paul Farrell was sentenced to 23 years; Christopher Mealey to 22 years; Benn Bath to 18 years; Joshua Paige to 8 years and Liam West to 14 years. A sixth man, Milos Bigovic, had previously been sentenced to 11 years.
The sentences were the culmination of a four-year investigation led by the National Crime Agency and centring upon the “Operation Venetic” infiltration of the encrypted “EncroChat” communications platform.
Two key enterprises were revealed: the importation of 90kg of cocaine from the Netherlands aboard a tug called the “Battler”, and the importation of 28kg of cocaine from a luxury cruise liner, the “Marella Discovery 2”, which had diverted to Southampton at the outbreak of Covid.
Paul Raudnitz KC led the prosecution for the NCA, leading Henrietta Paget KC. They were instructed by Anja Hohmeyer of
Please see the following national reports:
Paul Raudnitz KC