Four members of an organised crime network have been jailed for a combined 71-and-a-half years over plans to import hundreds of kilograms of drugs into the UK, including a plot to conceal cocaine inside frozen fish shipments. Samuel Tokeley, 57, Scott Richards, 51, Scott Unwin, 52, and Nicholas Shilling, 63, were sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday, September 25, following a Metropolitan Police investigation. Tokeley and Shilling were each jailed for 22 years, Richards received 14-and-a-half years and Unwin was sentenced to 13 years. All four were sentenced for conspiracy to import Class A drugs, with additional sentences imposed for offences involving Class B drugs and criminal property.
600kg of cocaine planned for frozen fish shipments
One of the plots uncovered by detectives was described as the “Fish Conspiracy”. Police said Tokeley, Unwin and Shilling planned to import approximately 600kg of cocaine from South America concealed within shipments of frozen fish. Unwin operated a legitimate fish business at Billingsgate Market which investigators said was intended to receive the shipment once it reached the UK. The cocaine was estimated to have a UK value of more than £20 million. The planned importation was ultimately not carried out.
EncroChat messages exposed drug operation
The Metropolitan Police investigation began in 2020 after information obtained from the encrypted communications platform EncroChat was shared with officers through the National Crime Agency. EncroChat was widely used by organised criminals before the network was dismantled by international law enforcement agencies. Analysis of communications linked to the defendants allowed detectives to uncover the scale of their plans. Investigators also identified separate plots involving hundreds of kilograms of ketamine intended for wholesale distribution across the UK.
Four men sentenced
Tokeley pleaded guilty to offences in March. Richards, Unwin and Shilling denied the allegations but were convicted following a trial which concluded in May. Acting Detective Chief Inspector Dean Grafton said the investigation had exposed “an organised crime group operating on an industrial scale”, with connections stretching from South America and mainland Europe to the UK. A fifth defendant, Nicky Bowers, had already been sentenced in January. Bowers was jailed for 16 years for offences involving Class A and Class B drugs and criminal property. The five defendants have therefore received prison sentences totalling more than 87 years as a result of the investigation.
Originally published by UKNIP.
