A DRUGS gang led a lifestyle inspired by their obsession with James Bond while smuggling millions of pounds worth of cocaine across the country, a court has heard.

Police who raided 38-year-old Paul Flisher’s home in Mount Road, Theydon Garnon, found guns placed near the entrances to the house, which has its own lake and gazebo for entertaining guests.

Among the weapons seized were a sawn-off shotgun, an imitation pump-action shotgun and an air rifle, all with ammunition.

Flisher helped smuggle about £3 million worth of cocaine to Devon along with five other men, including the gang’s leader, Timothy Eastgate, 31, of Oakhill Crescent, Woodford Green, Exeter Crown Court was told.

The chief investigator for Devon and Cornwall Police, Jim Hinchliffe, said the gang had been obsessed with the glamorous image of James Bond and police seized a picture of Flisher and Eastgate sipping champagne in the back of a luxury car as well as sports cars parked on a street in Chingford.

Eastgate also owned a luxury yacht called Shaken Not Stirred.

“The leaders of the gang in Essex all had phone numbers ending in 007,” added Mr Hinchliffe. “We found on Mr Flisher a motorcycle helmet with the visor blacked out and ‘007’ superimposed across it.

“They obviously felt they were living that sort of lifestyle, all be it on the wrong side of the law.”

The gang kept records of their deals on spreadsheets written in a complex code, but were rumbled when one of them, Christopher Leader, 54, of Havering Road, Romford, was pulled over for failing to insure his BMW 525.

Traffic police on the M5 in Devon found a gift-wrapped parcel in the back of the car, containing 11lbs of cocaine, with a street value of about £250,000 in August 2009.

Their investigations led them to one of Eastgate’s homes in Norfolk, where they discovered a hand gun, silencer and ammunition stored in a freezer after his arrest last February.

They also found an x-ray machine, believed to have been used to check whether packets of drugs could be smuggled through customs.

Mr Hinchliffe said the coded spreadsheets found at Eastgate’s house in Norfolk written in code showed the gang had made millions from dealing cocaine, but could contain information on other drugs being traded.

“We’re suggesting they made £3 million from the supply of cocaine,” he added. “It may be that if someone was to take the time to break the code, there might be other drugs.”

The gang’s couriers included James Wright, 28, of Hurst Close, Chingford, who had travelled to Devon and back six times while working for Eastgate

Another Chingford man pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine at an earlier hearing.

Eastgate, Flisher and four other gang members were found guilty of conspiracy to supply cocaine at Exeter Crown Court on April 26. They are due to be sentenced on June 1.