NORTH WEALD: Two men jailed over airfield drugs haul

3:16pm Tuesday 26th August 2008

By David Jackman

TWO men have been jailed for a total of 20 years over a £600,000-plus drugs haul which was flown into North Weald airfield.

Addison George, 43, would fly his four-seater Piper PA-28 plane from North Weald to Le Touquet, in northern France, and collect a black pilot’s case containing a large quantity of cocaine.

He would then fly back to the airfield, travel to Wormley, near Hoddesdon, and exchange the case, a trial at Cambridge Crown Court was told.

Police believe that the drugs were then distributed across Hertfordshire and the south east. Officers believe their year-long operation disrupted a “major organised crime operation”.

George, of Woodside, Thornwood, was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment after being found guilty of conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

Matthew Coles, 27, of Plomer Avenue, in Hoddesdon, was sentenced to eight years imprisonment after earlier pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

The pair were identified as being behind the importation and distribution of cocaine in a 12-month covert operation run by Hertfordshire Constabulary’s Serious and Organised Crime Unit.

The court heard how on Thursday, September 6 last year Coles – who acted as a courier – collected the case containing the drugs that George had picked up in France earlier that day.

Coles was then stopped by police officers in a vehicle in Ware Road, Hoddesdon, with the case and arrested.

The case contained eight kilos of cocaine with a street value of over £600,000.

George was arrested at North Weald airfield the next day (Friday, September 7). Both men were then charged with conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

Detective Inspector Dave Wheatley, from the Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: “This result represents the culmination of many months hard work, determination and patience. We have successfully succeeded in removing a large quantity of class A drugs from our streets and have disrupted a major organised crime operation.”

He added: “This case demonstrates that Hertfordshire is a hostile county for criminals to operate in and that we will take robust action against those people who are intent on breaking the law.

“We will continue to fight against organised criminality in our county to ensure Hertfordshire remains a safe place to live and work.”

Hertfordshire Constabulary is now looking to seize the plane and other assets under the Proceeds of Crime Act (2002) in a confiscation hearing to be heard later this year.