Smugglers jailed after £200k cocaine seized at Gatwick

Smugglers have been jailed after cocaine worth more than £200,000 was seized at Gatwick Airport.
From left, Richard Brown, Dorbon DavisFrom left, Richard Brown, Dorbon Davis
From left, Richard Brown, Dorbon Davis

Wolverhampton gang members Richard Brown, 50, Jamaican national Dorbon Davis, 52, and Alistair Brown, 30, were arrested in November 2015, said the National Crime Agency (NCA).

A NCA spokesman said Brown was detained by the Border Force after officers discovered the haul in a hidden compartment in his suitcase. He had flown from St Lucia and NCA officers arrested Davis as he waited to collect him at the airport.

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The spokesman said: “Davis initially denied knowing Brown but CCTV footage showed he had dropped him off at Gatwick on the outward leg of his trip.

“Evidence from a SIM card recovered when Davis was arrested proved he had been in contact with Richard Brown and a third man, Alistair Brown (no relation), 30, who had driven down to Gatwick with Davis and was also at the airport on the day Richard Brown’s flight arrived.

“Alistair Brown was arrested by the NCA at his home in Wolverhampton in January 2016.”

Richard Brown, of no fixed abode, formerly of Portland Road, Birmingham, Davis, of Joan Street, Wolverhampton, and Alastair Brown, of Joan Street, Wolverhampton, were sentenced at Croydon Crown Court on Monday (June 6).

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Richard Brown was sentenced to five years three months after he pleaded guilty to being concerned in the importation of cocaine. Davis was jailed for seven years after a jury found him guilty of being concerned in the importation of cocaine.

Alastair Brown was found guilty of being concerned in the importation of cocaine and sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, plus 240 hours unpaid work.

Mark Rutterford, from the NCA’s Gatwick border investigation team, said: “Our investigation was able to pull together evidence linking these three men to a plot to import cocaine worth over £200,000. It is clear from that evidence that Davis was there to collect the haul of drugs from Richard Brown.

“Working with our colleagues in Border Force we are determined to do all we can to disrupt and convict the organised criminal groups intent on bringing class A drugs to the UK.”

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