200 years for cocaine gang

Customs officers have smashed a massive cocaine smuggling ring in an investigation they describe as "without parallel" in Britain, it can be reported for the first time today.

The six-year operation, codenamed Extend, has led to five trials and a total of 15 gang members have been jailed for more than 200 years.

The gang leader Brian Wright can be named today as Britain's most wanted drug smuggler. Nicknamed "Uncle" or "The Milkman", because he always delivers, Wright escaped to Northern Cyprus which has no extradition treaty with Britain.

But among those in prison serving major sentences are his 34-year-old son, also Brian Wright, his foremost lieutenant Kevin Hanley, and Ronald Soares, his link with the Colombian cocaine barons of Medellin .

Today, at Bristol Crown Court, Judge John Foley finally lifted a series of contempt orders which imposed a news blackout on the case for more than two years.

As a result it can also be revealed today that Wright senior was at the heart of a major threat to the integrity of British horse racing.

He laundered millions of pounds from the proceeds of his drug smuggling through gambling based on doping and race-fixing.

During the trials of his gang members ex-jockeys Barrie Wright (no relation) and Graham Bradley, who remains a close friend of Wright senior, admitted being paid for illegally passing on insider information on horses. The Jockey Club is set to take action against both Barrie Wright, who was cleared of conspiracy to import cocaine for Brian Wright, and Bradley for breaches of racing regulations although neither have held a jockey licence since the late Nineties.

The Jockey Club will also reopen its own inquiry into the threat from organised crime in racing.

Ex-jockey and trainer Dermot Browne has also told police and the Jockey Club he helped dope 20 horses at the request of Brian Wright in the Nineties.

Yet to his many friends in the world of racing and showbusiness - people like comedian Jim Davidson, the bookmaker Victor Chandler and countless leading jockeys - Brian Wright was known as a man of enormous charm, witty and kind. But, of course, Wright could afford to be generous. Everyone knew he was vastly rich, one estimate put his fortune at £200 million.

What these friends did not know was that his money came from flooding Britain with cocaine. Five of his consignments alone had a street value of £300million.

But the operation that ended his British empire began with a chance find by Irish Customs men. In September 1996, they searched a converted trawler, the Sea Mist, which was diverted into Cork harbour on its way to Britain. The vessel was carrying more than half a ton of cocaine - 599 kg - worth £80 million. Papers on the Sea Mist indicated a link to Wright, who had long been suspected of being a key player in the burgeoning drugs trade.

Wright moved between a home in Sotogrande, Spain - a renowned haven for British crooks - and his Chelsea Harbour apartment.

In Sotogrande, he met Ronald Soares, a 51-year-old Brazilian who had a direct line of communication to the cocaine barons in Colombia's Medellin cartel. Through Soares, Wright could buy as much cocaine as he wanted. The drugs were brought into Britain after being transferred at sea into locally-registered boats.

Customs investigators, aware of Wright's role, began targeting his associates. One was Roman Smolen, who was aboard the Sea Mist when it was seized by Irish police. Godfried Hoppenbrouwers was identified as another skipper in Wright's sinister flotilla.

But the men who excited most interest were Brian Wright junior and a man investigators identified as Kevin Hanley. Wright junior was his father's right-hand man and Hanley, 39, organised deliveries and sold the cocaine to dealers in Britain.

In November, 1998, Hanley was arrested driving through London with 29 kg of cocaine in the boot of his car. The drugs were part of a major consignment and Wright immediately ordered the suspension of all operations. But a few weeks later, after talks with Soares, he resumed shipments. The Customs investigators decided it was time to make their move.

By February 1999, the Customs team had identified a farm in Laleham, Middlesex, as an important location in the gang's operations. They also kept watch on a lock-up garage in Leigh-On-Sea in Essex, believed to be used as a hiding place for drugs.

A carefully-planned ambush was launched. Wright junior, Soares and eight other gang members were arrested and cocaine valued at £61 million was seized. The arrests were a triumph for the members of the Operation Extend team, soured only by the fact that Wright senior managed to escape.

A senior Customs source said. "It was probably the most sophisticated and successful global cocaine organisation ever to target the UK. Wright is a menace, continues to be a menace and we want to catch him."

Among the 15 people jailed in Britain, Wright junior was sentenced to 16 years; Hanley got 15 years, and Soares was jailed for 26 years. Hoppenbrouwers was sentenced in Miami to 30 years.

Smolen, who stood trial last year, was acquitted.