#3 The Crystal Meth Boxing Coach

[Intro voice over] - Crystal meth worth £7 million was being smuggled into the UK disguised as online shopping.

So what happens when police discover a community boxing coach is behind one of the largest operations being run in Nottingham?

[Police bodycam footage] – Police, stay where you are! You're going to be arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to import class A. Okay?

[Music]

[Host] – Detective Inspector Ian Smith, better known as Smithy of course, welcome to the interview room. What do you think?

[DI Smith] – Thank you, yeah, surprised and quite impressed. Yeah.

[Host] – We’ll take that.

[DI Smith] – Yeah, quite impressed.

[Host] – Snazzy is I think the word that's been used. We're here today to talk, of course, about Op Continental. What a case that was, and at the heart of it is crystal meth and crystal meth is not something we hear of very often in Nottinghamshire. You hear ‘crystal meth’, everyone thinks of Breaking Bad, the American TV series set 5,000 miles away in New Mexico.

Before we come on to talk about Op Continental, let's discuss what crystal meth actually is for those who don't know much about it. What can you tell us about the drug? And why is it so dangerous?

[DI Smith] – So, crystal meth, is a drug which is created in a laboratory in a pretty dangerous process. Well, a highly dangerous process, to produce what is a highly addictive substance, which very quickly after it's been consumed will cause the effects that are desired.

The drug itself – well its appearance can be in different forms, it can be powder based, it can come in other forms, but crystal meth, as the name suggests, is kind of what's known across the US where they have a more significant problem as ‘ice’ or as ‘glass’ and that's what it looks like. It looks like slivers of glass.

[Host] – And how is it taken?

[DI Smith] – So again, like most drugs, it can be ingested in many ways.

It can be put into the bloodstream, lots of things can happen. But generally speaking, from the limited exposure that we've had to it, it tends to be smoked in kind of a crackpipe for want of a better term, but yeah, smoked through a pipe.

[Host] – Highly addictive, but what makes it so dangerous? What impacts does it have on the human body?

[DI Smith] – Well the fact of how addictive it is, firstly, but also the sense of confidence, euphoria that it builds in somebody that maybe doesn't have all those feelings naturally, is something that is desired I think at first. But then on the body itself, it creates boosts of energy, an appetite suppressant.

But, along with that, it can cause irregular heartbeat, it can cause heart problems, quite severe at times blood pressure issues, it can decay - depending on how it’s taken - it can decay your mouth, it can create sores on the body, visual signs of ill health, and it can kill you.

You can overdose on crystal meth very easily, but you have no control over it, it isn't a naturally occurring substance in that form, so the consumer has no idea where it's been made, how strong it is, what’s mixed in with it.

[Host] – Well I think I read that the highs can last 12 to 24 hours, but there's clearly a lot more downsides to this drug than upsides.

[DI Smith] – There is, yeah. I think generally it's anything from 4 to 24 hours, but that in itself is another reason that it can be so dangerous because like with many drugs, with an incredible high, if somebody doesn't want the effects for 24 hours because they've got a life to live, they need to bring themselves back down and again, that exposes the consumer to other chemicals and other products, which in themselves are also highly dangerous, which makes the whole process of crystal meth abuse so, so, dangerous in many, many ways.

[Host] – Let's speak bluntly, why are people taking this drug in other countries? I’ve read about things like sex parties and things like that.

[DI Smith] – There is there is a known link to the chemical sex scene, for want of a better word. And that's not just abroad that's the same here. But as I say, knowledge of it is very limited, but more widely than that, it's used in a lot of deprived areas of the US and I'm assuming Australia, I'm not an expert there obviously, but wide ranging use in communities that can probably be targeted and are probably more vulnerable due to economic and other factors, I would say.

[Host] – So, certainly not a drug we want to see here in Nottinghamshire, which brings us on to Op Continental. Talk to me a little bit about what Op Continental was all about. How did it start? Just talk me through that investigation, how it began.

[DI Smith] – So, knowledge of the job, where it kicked off was at Stansted Airport. So, you know, certainly not in the county of Nottinghamshire and it was picked up through the security teams down at Stansted Airport, Border Force, and the destination of that parcel was Nottingham and so that parcel was confiscated and Nottinghamshire Police were informed.

What happens in those circumstances is that our intelligence department then have a look, do lots of research and a lot of work in fairness to them to try and better understand the problem and see if this was a one off or not and then ultimately, the details were passed on to the Serious Organised Crime team.

[Host] – And that parcel that was intercepted it had been disguised, they're not just going to send through, you know, ‘this is crystal meth’. How did they disguise that package?

[DI Smith] – On this occasion, and it was used in a few other occasions as well, this was weight loss shake powder. But that isn't uncommon within drugs trafficking to use products that are lawful powders, you know, we've seen it before with protein powders and caffeine powders and all this sort of thing. So yeah, it was weight loss shakes.

[Host] – And so this would be an investigation that would last 18 months and result in Nottinghamshire Police discovering more than £7 million worth of crystal meth. That's an absolutely staggering figure. Which is, of course, the largest amount seized in the force's history.

Six people would go on to be jailed for their role in smuggling the drug into Nottinghamshire from America with vast amounts of high strength cannabis also being trafficked into our country.

So, take me back to the sort of early stages of this investigation. We found this parcel that's been intercepted at Stansted Airport. We've been told about that. What happens next in terms of the investigation?

[DI Smith] – Well, we look into who's receiving them, who's financed them, who's ordered them, how they've been ordered, who's named the parcels? You know, it’s the modern world, isn't it? It's not writing on an envelope and sending anymore, you will find a lot of automation involved in this process.

So, we did a lot of research in relation to that, but also, we liaised with Border Force and we were able to target some further deliveries to destinations within our area and thankfully that was successful. Then the team were set the challenge to link those together, which they were able to do successfully.

[Host] – And what were you able to find out about how this drugs gang were operating, so they're sending these shipments over from America, they’re destined to addresses in Nottinghamshire. What can you tell me about the people who were actually receiving these packages after they've been shipped?

[DI Smith] – Yeah, I mean you mentioned the number of people prosecuted and in fairness, there could have been a lot more people collectively put before the courts. But the deeper we went into this investigation, the more we discovered that there were some – did we give them the benefit of doubt or was it the right thing to do? I think it was both – but there was some innocent people involved here.

[Host] – People who were receiving packages but not knowing what was in them?

[DI Smith] – Yeah, so friends and associates of, let's call them the leaders, the gangsters, whatever we want to call them, but friends and associates of them were being duped. Don’t get me wrong some of them were vulnerable, I'm sure some maybe thought that the contents of what they were taking in may be questionable, but we were able to see that these items were delivered and that the gangsters, if we call them that, themselves went to those destinations after the delivery.

So, we knew that the person who was in to receive a delivery that wasn't addressed to them, it was addressed to somebody else anyway, ultimately weren’t left with the parcel and some of those people were arrested and interviewed. They weren't ultimately in court because they were able to explain to us what they had been told and what they thought the items were, and in many cases there was former girlfriends that had been used to stay in and wait for a pair of trainers or some clothes or that kind of thing.

[Host] – As simple as ‘I've got a parcel arriving. Would you mind taking it for me because I'm going to be out?’ As simple as that?

[DI Smith] – You do it to your mates all the time wouldn’t you, or your family?

[Host] – And they were completely oblivious to what was inside them?

[DI Smith] – Yeah.

[Host] – I see, blimey. And what do we know about the quantities that were being imported from America?

[DI Smith] – Okay, so suppose the quantities have to be realistic because, you know, I'm not saying they could afford it, but you know, you’re not going to bring half a ton in one package. So, you're going to bring as much as you think you can get away with or as much as you've got away with successfully before.

So, you're going to get numerous packages and you're not going to ask for them all to be delivered to the same address, that make it too easy for us, wouldn't it? So, what you see is a variety of parcels, in and around the low digit kilo. So, just shy of a kilo, a couple of kilos, things that would fit in a weight loss powder tub, you know?

[Host] – I’m right in saying I think that they had, if we can call them an insider, someone who knew how to get these packages through.

[DI Smith] – Yeah, they did.

[Host] – What can you tell me about that individual?

[DI Smith] – Yeah, they were quite cunning really. They’d infiltrated quite a large, multinational pharmaceutical company based in London and that person had networked – well, he went to prison as a result of this - but he was able to infiltrate his own employers and work his way up to a position of trust that he could then abuse.

Pharmaceutical companies bring drugs into the country from America and out of this country to Australia and back and forth regularly and that’s completely lawful and they’re licensed and they're regulated to do so, so long as the items are from the company for the purpose that they're supposed to be. He was able to navigate around that and he was able to use his access to their systems to create labels to seemingly genuine customers, when in fact it was to Mr Davante James and his friends.

[Host] – And I guess that's why Davante James, as we're going to come on to see in some video footage, thought that they're just going to continue to get away with this because they've got this person on the inside helping them?

[DI Smith] – Well, they'd not made it easier to be fair, but yeah, that’s about right.

[Host] – So, before we come on to Davante James, who's the guy at the very top of this drugs conspiracy. What do we know about how much money the gang leaders were making out of this operation?

[DI Smith] – Well, I mean, we only know from the time we were looking at them and I suppose it's common sense to believe that to a lesser or greater degree, they were doing this before we knew about it.

But you can see from some of the footage we released at the time and some of it's already been in the press, you know, we're looking at tables full of wads of cash. We're looking at boasting of having £100,000 in cash in the home. I mean, that's a big bag of cash. So yeah, lots of money.

You’ve only got to look at the values involved, you know, if there's £7 million worth intercepted, yet during that period they can still keep bringing in other drugs, there's a lot of money out there to finance that isn’t there? And there's a lot of money being made and it's been worth the risk up until them being caught.

[Host] – So, once the crystal meth has been smuggled into the country and delivered to addresses in Nottinghamshire, what's happening to the drugs after that? Who's selling it and to who?

[DI Smith] – So, some of it is for - and not all of it was crystal meth - but some of it was for sale in the drug markets here and we have footage of them having taken deliveries or collected them from the person that took the parcel, and they would then break down those drugs into sellable amounts to wherever the customers were, and some of that would have been on sale to other countries, some of it was to other areas of this country, some of it was to Nottinghamshire.

[Host] – So, some of it would have ended up on the streets of Nottinghamshire, but also in other countries like Australia?

[DI Smith] – Yeah.

[Host] – Let's come on to Davante James then. He's the guy at the very top. What can you tell me about him? Who was he? I think he was a boxing coach, for instance.

[DI Smith] – Yeah, he was a boxing coach.

[Host] – Well known in the area?

[DI Smith] – I think his reputation said he was a lovely fella, yeah, that was an upstanding pillar of the community maybe. But, from what we found on his phone, it shows that he was a little bit darker than that and he was very supremely confident that he wouldn't get caught, very boastful. Lived a very lavish lifestyle and I'm sure not only his customers, but some other people, must have wondered why this chap that does a bit of boxing coaching is going to some of the places he was going to, staying in the luxury that he was staying in.

[Host] – What part of Nottinghamshire was he living in?

[DI Smith] – He was moving around but inner city Nottingham and also links more widely across the county as well towards the Mansfield area as well, of him and the group. Jesse Kolo, the pharmaceutical man, he was from Dagenham, he was London based.

[Host] – He was the number two?

[DI Smith] – He was a critical element of their working model. What I don't know is how many other groups he might have been the critical element to their working model, but the rest of the gang were clearly friends and associates from this area who had known and associated with one another for a long time. Jesse Kolo was the outsider, I don't know truly how that link came to be.

[Host] – So, when you arrest Davante James you seize his mobile phone. Talk to me a little bit about what you found on that mobile device.

[DI Smith] – There'd been a lot of work to get the job to the point of arresting Davante, because we needed to be in a position where we were confident that he would see justice, and so when we went to the point of arrest after all that work, a lot of that work was necessary because he’d got quite a tight criminal enterprise, quite a tight group, quite well structured.

And then we get to see the phones and, I don't know what it's like being a drug dealer, but clearly it's quite competitive and if you're good at it you like to boast and it was all there in the phone. The team couldn't believe it, you know, the challenge was there that, you know, ‘look at all this I've got’.

He might as well have said ‘the cops are stupid, they're never going to catch me, they’ve no idea’, and he was wrong. So, to find that after we'd done all the hard work up to that point - the hard work continued thereafter - but it was brilliant, yeah. There was confirmation of involvement of people and not, that was along the lines of what we'd already been able to build up, but it was confirmation there for us to see, and to see the confidence of the guy.

You know, leaving inner city Nottingham, leaving these communities that he was blighting to be sat there with his big Cuban cigars, his Swiss watches, biting wads of cash. It's pretty satisfying to know that we was going to end up sending him to prison for quite a while.

[Host] – Well, in that footage he certainly doesn't look like a man who’s got a care in the world, doesn't think he's going to get caught, no anxiety at all, just supremely confident and thinking he's going to continue getting away with it. How wrong he was.

[DI Smith] – Yeah, thankfully.

[Host] – Just give us a sense of how much work goes into the point where you're able to make these arrests and take them into custody and charge them. Was there a specific enforcement day or were different people arrested at different stages?

[DI Smith] – We need to take as many of the main players at the same time because, once you deal with one of them that's high up there, they all know don't they? They know their mates been locked up, so at that point they're going to start getting rid of stuff. You know, we're not going to get their phones. So, you want to get them together if you can. That is a resource game and a planning game.

[Host] – What are your recollections of that day? Do you remember waking up early feeling anxious or nervous? Try and paint a picture of that day?

[DI Smith] – In truth, not as exciting as you think for me because, this was an 18-month investigation, but it wasn't the only ongoing investigation. So, there was daily business to deal with. It was one of the jobs of the day, obviously it was significant and obviously a lot of the department's resource went into it, but the knowledge that we'd arrested them and managed to get some evidence before interviews, some additional evidence, obviously we had plenty already, but, you know, the trappings of success, the wealth – to get that, was indicative of – well it was evidence – for somebody that hasn't got a job, you know, where’s your money coming from?

So, yeah it was good. The team that were on that, who did all the work – well, not all the work that's wrong because it was a big team effort throughout the force and with our partners – but yeah, they were delighted.

[Host] – When you’re putting the cuffs on – like I say six ended up going to jail including Davante James – what do you recall about their reactions because we discussed they weren't expecting to get caught and then here you are bursting in and putting cuffs on them?

[DI Smith] – The arrest teams had their bodycams on didn't they and they captured it and I think – have a look, it's better than I could describe it, have a look.

[Host] – They're quite shocked?

[DI Smith] – Yeah.

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*Police bodycam footage of Davante James being arrested*

[Police officer] – Just come in here a sec. Right, Davante we’re from Notts Police.

[Davante James] – Yeah.

[Police officer] – Okay? You're going to be arrested. Okay? On suspicion of conspiracy to import class A. Okay?

[Davante James] – *laughs*

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*Police bodycam footage of Jesse Kolo being arrested*

[Police officer 1] – Police, stay where you are! Police officers! Get off your phone!

[Jesse Kolo] – What the hell!

[Police officer 1] – What’s your name?

[Jesse Kolo] – She knows my name.

[Police officer 2] – Jesse, we’ve met before, haven’t we?

[Jesse Kolo] – We have.

[Police officer 2] – So, the time is 6.43am, you’re under arrest on suspicion of importation of class A and class B drugs, namely crystal meth and cannabis, okay?

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*Police bodycam footage of Lavontie Cameron being arrested*

[Police officer 1] – Morning, Lavontie isn’t it? Come on let’s go in. Who else is in?

[Lavontie Cameron] – My dad’s upstairs.

[Police officer 1] – Right, let’s just pop through here for a sec.

[Police officer 2] – (To radio) Subject has answered the door.

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[Host] – So, obviously Nottinghamshire Police have led on this investigation, but there were others involved. What can you tell me about who else was involved in this investigation?

[DI Smith] – Well, the job was kicked off by Border Force, who then maintained an interest in the job up until court and they put their own comms out on conviction as you're aware. But also, the Australian authorities, their border team, were incredibly helpful and were able to use the information about this gang to stop more drugs getting into their country.

But, the US embassy were incredible, incredibly helpful. Were a critical part of the team really and they were obviously delighted as well. Not that it had stemmed drugs from going into their country because they were the export country, if you like, but they were happy that they'd been able to have a deterrent, if you like. Some positive publicity for them and as I say their work with us and their willingness to let us use some of their information should we need it as evidence, was critical to getting the job home and uncovering the extent of the problem.

[Host] – So, let's talk about what happened at court. No trial, guilty pleas across the board, nine in the dock. What does that say about the calibre of this investigation?

[DI Smith] – The team were top notch weren’t they? Yeah, incredible amounts of work. The evidence was there, and then we got the phones, and that was the sugar on the top. I mean, we probably didn't even need that, but it makes for good viewing. It probably makes their mind up that actually, if the jury hear all the evidence, we might get convicted, but if they see it, we're done aren’t we?

So, yeah it was brilliant, they had nowhere left to go. They had to put pleas in, ultimately we accepted the pleas and they were sentenced in the way that they were. They’d have had bigger sentences if they’d have gone not guilty, but overall no we were delighted that it was done and, you know, justice was served I suppose.

[Host] – So, Davante James got 17 years and there were of course other people who went to prison for this.

[DI Smith] – Yeah, in sentencing the judge highlighted that he was in charge. He was the main man.

[Host] – And then there was Rakeem Thomas, heavily involved in the running of the operation, including decanting drugs from parcels and distributing them, jailed for 11 and a half years.

Jesse Kolo, this was the inside man.

[DI Smith] – He was the London guy, yeah. The pharmaceutical man.

[Host] – Yeah, jailed for five years and four months and presumably lost his job.

Lemar Taylor, a trusted associate who was in regular contact with occupants of addresses used to store the drug parcels. He received seven and a half years.

Kyiem Raymond, also a trusted member of the crime gang. He assisted with the collections and deliveries of packages imported into the UK, and he was jailed for 45 months.

[DI Smith] – You know how we said we could see people going to collect them and then bringing them back? Kyiem.

[Host] – Right, I see. Okay, excellent.

And Lavontie Cameron, he assisted the gang by meeting with parcel recipients. Lots of evidence to prove he attended key addresses in the case and was in contact with several of the co-accused on the days the parcels were received, and he was jailed for 38 months.

So, that six have gone to jail and then there were three other defendants, of course, who received community orders for the parts that they played. So, there's some hefty sentences there. How do you feel about those results?

[DI Smith] – Well, I hope they learned their lesson. Yeah, it's good isn't it? It's positive, which is why we do it, isn't it? But, very positive.

It's always tempered with a slight disappointment. You think? You know what? If only they’d have gone not guilty we were confident we would’ve got bigger sentences. But, that would have meant far more work, far more expense, far more hassle. So, overall, yeah delighted, yeah.

[Host] – Well Ian, look, thank you for joining us because it really was a fascinating case, lots of media coverage at the time. Rightly so, because it really was a cracking investigation. I've really enjoyed hearing more about it today. Thank you very much for your time and for taking part in The Interview Room.

[DI Smith] – No problem. Thank you.

[Host] – And if you've enjoyed this episode, be sure to check out our Spotify and YouTube channels where new episodes will be uploaded every month.