Merlin the Magician
At the Start
Seventeen members of a global crack cocaine smuggling network have been jailed for between five and 27 years.
London's Snaresbrook Crown Court heard the gang was thought to be responsible for smuggling cocaine worth almost £50m into the UK.
The court was told the group, known as the Bling Bling Gang, got young women hooked on the drug and then forced them to work as drug mules.
Another 65 members have been jailed in France, Guyana and the US.
The court heard how the gang smuggled cocaine paste and cocaine liquid from the Caribbean into the US, Canada, Europe and, in particular, London.
CONVICTED GANG
Ian Dundas-Jones, 35, of Leyton, east London, jailed for 27 years for importation of cocaine and manufacture of crack cocaine
Bernard Clarke, 31, of Romford, east London, jailed for 18 years, for importation of cocaine, manufacture of crack cocaine and supply of crack cocaine
Lisa Bennett, 39, of South Tottenham, north London, jailed for 18 years for the manufacture of crack cocaine and to money laundering offences
Troy Alleyne, 36, of Stratford, east London, jailed for 14 years, for the manufacture of crack cocaine
Cy Oswald Stephens, 32, of Birmingham, jailed for 12 years for conspiracy to supply cocaine
Nekeisha Anderson, 22 of Walthamstow, east London, jailed for eight years for importation of cocaine
Amy Anne Farrow, 21, of Wallington, Surrey, jailed for five years for importation of cocaine
Segun Fisher, 29, of Peckham, south-east London, jailed for 14 years importation of cocaine and possession with intent to supply
Clare Jones, 39 of Coventry, jailed for 10 years for cocaine and money laundering offences
Jason Miranda, 26, of South Croydon, south London, jailed for 16 years for two counts of importation of cocaine
Sandra Dundas-Jones, 44, of Leyton, east London, was jailed 10 years for the importation of cocaine
Clyde Benjamin, 30, of Kennington, south London, jailed for 12 years for the importation of cocaine
Rolex Graham, 30, of Leyton, east London, jailed for four-and-a-half years for money laundering offences
Candy Blackman, 32, of West Norwood, south-east London, jailed for 10 years for the importation of cocaine and money laundering offences
Working from a house in East Ham, east London, they then turned the cocaine into crack.
Known as the "Bling Bling Gang", its members spent vast amounts of the proceeds on designer clothes and jewellery.
Passing sentence Judge Timothy King said they were motivated by "greed".
He said: "You and those like you... are a scourge upon decent, civilised society and you bear a heavy responsibility for the despair and ruination that you visit upon others."
The first to be jailed was Ian Dundas-Jones.
The judge said that as the gang's "top player", he oversaw "multiple" drug runs into Britain, the transfer of funds abroad, the "recruitment, meeting and greeting" of couriers and the "overseeing of the manufacture of cocaine into crack and arranging for its distribution".
Det Sgt Adrian Hodgetts, the senior investigating officer, said the gang was run by "highly organised" and "ruthless" individuals.
"Their convictions have caused a significant downturn in the amounts of crack cocaine on London's streets and today's sentences will greatly impact on making London a safer place."
The gang, originally of Guyanan and Caribbean descent, exploited dozens of vulnerable young women, often single mothers, to facilitate their massive cocaine smuggling enterprise, police said.
First they would get them hooked on drugs and then, once dependent, would force them to work as drug mules in order to service their debts. Their families would also be threatened.
They rented a terraced house in East Ham, east London, solely for the purpose of converting the cocaine into the more physiologically addictive crack.
The couriers used specially adapted shampoo or perfume containers, vases, rum bottles or suitcases to smuggle the cocaine, either in powder, paste or liquid form, into Britain.
Around three mules would be sent on each assignment, because the gang knew that if one was picked up they could still profit from the other two.
Police found £1m of crack in the house
The network's main players would work at the house in East Ham every two weeks to turn the cocaine into crack. Nobody actually lived there.
When officers raided the premises, they uncovered more than £1m worth of crack cocaine in pizza style pans in the "kitchen" cut and ready for distribution to their customer network.
Detectives from the Met's Special Intelligence Section worked closely with officers from the French National Drugs Squad in Paris and the Drug Enforcement Agency in USA during a two year investigation to smash the gang.
The operation was codenamed Bella Vista.
Fourteen member of the gang were convicted on Monday, another three were convicted at previous hearings.
