U.K. Drug Kingpin Guilty in $1.6M Smuggling Plot

A drugs baron who appeared on the U.K.'s Sunday Times Rich List has been found guilty of a $1.6 million drug smuggling plot.

Curtis Warren, who was once the most wanted man in Europe, had denied leading a plot to flood Jersey's streets with cannabis.

A jury at the Royal Court in St Helierfound him guilty of conspiracy to import a controlled drug today after a two-week trial.

Warren, 46, from Liverpool, showed no emotion as the jury's unanimous verdict was given after around nine hours of deliberations.

The gangster — dubbed Cocky Warren — was arrested in Jersey soon after finishing a long sentence for cocaine and heroin trafficking in Holland.

The prosecution said the first shipment was to be a million pounds worth of cannabis, but a telephone tap caught him describing that as "just a little starter".

Warren used his drugs contacts in Amsterdam to supply the drugs which would then be driven through Belgium and France to the Normandy coast.

Speedboats would then bring them to the island.

Cannabis sold for high prices in Jersey, it was said, and the gang could have made 10 times what they were to pay for it.

A secluded cove near St. Catherine's Breakwater on the east coast had been identified as a potential landing spot, the jury was told.

Warren allegedly spent hours cruising the island in a hire car and making dozens of calls from public phone boxes.

He and his co-defendants were photographed meeting in parks and on beaches and their phones were tapped. Listening devices were put in their cars.

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