The cocaine nursery

A Colombian gang turned a teenage mother's bedroom into a drugs factory as they planned to flood the streets of London with cocaine.

When Customs officers raided the flat in Stockwell they found what looked like a typical child's bedroom, with a collection of teddy bears next to the bed and a pop poster on brightly coloured walls.

But next to the toys they discovered a £500,000 stash of cocaine - together with a machete, a pistol and equipment to weigh and pack the narcotics.

Pregnant 18-year-old Maire Bejarano lived at the den with her partner Ricardo Hinestroza, 24, and their 15-month-old child. The couple were part of an eight-strong gang smashed by Customs and convicted last week.

Senior officers said they believed the gang were starting an operation to put millions of pounds of cocaine on the streets of the capital.

Gang leader Hector Orozco, 35, of Brixton, used to work at Mayfair's Lansdowne Club, a haunt of royalty and MPs. Other members included a lingerie salesman and a jewellery trader.

They were convicted with the help of video footage they had made of themselves handling the narcotics, shipped in from Spain.

Police said the gang had filmed every movement of the package. It is thought they were going to send the tapes to a "Mr Big" in Spain as proof the smuggling was taking place as he ordered.

Customs and Excise officials were tipped off that a suspicious package had arrived at a parcel depot in Bermondsey in January. The box was marked "fragile". Officers lay in wait at the depot and watched as Bejarano picked up the drugs, then tracked her back to the Stockwell flat.

They saw gang members coming and going, each passing the same camcorder between themselves. When they raided the address last month they discovered the bedroom - with its cuddly toys - converted into a factory. They found 10kg of pure Colombian cocaine, a press, scales, spatulas and plastic gloves, a machete and an air pistol converted to fire live rounds.

Duncan Stewart, Customs Assistant Chief Investigation Officer, said: "By dismantling this Colombian gang at an early stage, Customs has stopped a large amount of cocaine from hitting the streets."

Hinestroza and Bejarano were found guilty of importing the drug. Their landlord Lisandro Alzate Orozco, 34, who lived at the same address, admitted cocaine dealing and possessing a firearm. Hector Orozco admitted importing cocaine, while Luis Zamora, a 36-year-old lingerie salesman from Tottenham, and his brother John, 35, a jewellery dealer from Wood Green, were found guilty of the same charge. Fabian Vargas Osorio, 34, and Elver Florez, who had been on the run from Spanish police, pleaded guilty to cocaine dealing.

They will be sentenced at Croydon Crown Court on 19 May.