Two Acton men jailed as part of £260m cocaine ring – EALING.NEWS – The Voice of Ealing 7 towns

A drug gang including two men from Acton have been jailed for more than 104 years after the Metropolitan Police found they conspired to supply cocaine with an estimated street value of between £208m and £260m.

The gang, made up of semi-professional footballers, were sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court on 17 May 2024 after they had all previously pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to conspiracy to supply a Class A controlled drug (cocaine) and conspiracy to supply controlled class B drug (ketamine). ).

They were

Andrew Harewood, 34 of Woodhurst Road, Acton – jailed for 24 years and six months, reduced to 16 years and one month

Melchi Emanuel-Williamson, 29, of Wesley Avenue, North Acton – sentenced to 21 years and six months, reduced to 14 years

Adam Pepara, 35, of Wharf Lane, Solihull – 29-year sentence reduced to 24 years

Shaquille Hippolyte-Patrick, 29, of Delgarno Gardens, North Kensington – sentenced to 26 years and six months, reduced to 18 years and nine months

Jamarl Joseph, 28, of Lily Gardens, Wembley – sentenced to 26 years and six months, reduced to 17 years and six months

Luke Skeete, 36, of Evergreen Drive, West Drayton – jailed for 22 years and six months reduced to 13 years and one month

Constable Perry, from Specialist Crime North, said: “The operation we have dismantled here is not a small-scale enterprise involving a group of chancers – this is a highly organized criminal group supplying drugs to industrial scale throughout the UK.

“The sentences they received reflect the seriousness of what they did. This is a criminal group that had promising careers – semi-professional footballers with other jobs and courses to attend – but were motivated to make money off the drugs that fuel the misery and violence on our streets.

“Anyone else wondering if they can make money from this kind of activity should look at these sentences and think again, because it’s only a matter of time before you get caught.”

Detective Constable Janes, from Specialist Crime North, said: “With Skeete’s arrest, we have brought down this house of cards. After he was apprehended, we secured valuable evidence on his cell phone, helping us launch another investigation that led to the identification of his co-conspirators.

“The forensic examination of that device and the invaluable CCTV evidence helped us build such a compelling case that neither of them had any choice but to plead guilty.”

Skeete had already been jailed for 15 years at the same court in July 2023 after pleading guilty to two counts of possession with intent to supply Class A drugs (cocaine), possession with intent to supply Class B drugs (ketamine), supplying cocaine and driving while disqualified.

He was stopped by the police in October 2022 while driving a small van. When the police searched him, they found 8 kg of cocaine in the back of the vehicle.

A video recovered from a car involved in the deal showed Skeete parking in his white van and driving over a wave of drugs.

Skeete was arrested and a further 123kg of cocaine and 224kg of ketamine were recovered from storage facilities in west London.

During the investigation, Skeete’s phone was seized and sent to specialist hearings, where officers found messages and began examining users.

They discovered that each had an individual handle to hide their true identity to try to evade the police, but they were identified.

Detectives examined CCTV which showed the gang coming and going from the storage unit with drugs hidden in overalls and boxes.

According to police, between 10 April 2022 and 20 October 2022, they all conspired to supply more than 2.7 tonnes of high-quality cocaine, with an estimated street value of between £208,160,000 and £260,200,000.

On 28 September 2023, specialist crime officers executed arrest warrants at addresses linked to the group in London and Birmingham.