Drug kingpin ran gang from Dubai penthouse, say police

This content was originally posted in 7DAYS UAE website at: Drug kingpin ran gang from Dubai penthouse, say police An international drug gang that forged cocaine into objects to avoid detection was “masterminded” by an expat living in Dubai, police have revealed. Dubai Police said they had been observing the 39-year-old British national, originally from Liverpool,  since 2013, when he moved to the UAE from Thailand. He was arrested at his apartment in Dubai earlier this month along with an associate, aged 38, as part of an international operation involving authorities in the UAE, Spain and the UK. A British newspaper described the main suspect as a former boxer who lived in a penthouse in Dubai Marina. Dubai Police gave only his initials, LE, and that of his colleague, GGM. Four other men were arrested, including one at Liverpool airport and in the city. The gang’s smuggling methods made global headlines when 1.4 tonnes of cocaine disguised as wooden pallets was seized at the Spanish port of Valencia. General Khamis Mattar Al Muzaina, head of Dubai Police, said: “He is a Dubai resident and we had him under surveillance since 2013. “We didn’t arrest him before as we didn’t have evidence to link him with international drug operations. We now believe he was the mastermind.” Acting on intelligence from the UK’s National Crime Agency, officers from the Spanish National Police searched a shipping container from Colombia that arrived in the port of Valencia on November 30. The pallets were made of compressed cocaine, with more of the drug forged into various shapes and disguised as coal on the pallets. Al Muzaina said the cocaine was worth nearly Dhs1.5 billion. Another five men – two Colombians, two Peruvians and a Spaniard – were detained in Spain on December 3. Greg McKenna, National Crime Agency regional head of investigations, said a charcoal company used by the gang to distribute cocaine. He said: “We believe the charcoal company was a front for a industrial-sized lab where cocaine was extracted from pallets and charcoal, processed and repackaged for onward distribution across Europe. “This seizure of cocaine, the shutting down of the lab and the eleven arrests will have disrupted criminal activity across the whole of Europe.” ali.shouk@7days.ae Read the original story at: Drug kingpin ran gang from Dubai penthouse, say police