An organised crime group used a cover load of foie gras and duck breast to smuggle nearly 100kg of cocaine into the UK.
Four members of the group were sentenced today following a National Crime Agency investigation which began after colleagues from Border Force became suspicious about the expensive delicacy which was placed on top of the Class A drug in the back of a transit van.
Officers stopped the vehicle in November 2019 as it entered Newhaven from Dieppe.
Once the foie gras and duck breast were removed, officers discovered the van had a false floor and the crime group had placed 97kg of cocaine under it. The drugs had a street value of about £8 million.
The NCA investigation proved the driver was innocent but that the van owners, Jean-Pierre Labelle, 48, and Tanvir Hussain, 46, were behind the failed importation along with Michael Keating, 56, and his brother Matthew Keating, 49.
Kingpin Michael Keating, of Uxbridge, Middlesex, organised the plot and sourced the drugs through international connections.
Hussain, of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, bought the van along with Labelle, who is from the Isle of Wight.
Crime group member Matthew Keating, of Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, admitted a previous ketamine importation committee with his older brother.
Michael Keeting used the encrypted communications platform EncroChat to plan his drug runs.
NCA officers proved he was the real-world identity behind the handle ‘Bestrocket’, which had sent photos of a boat Keating had bought and had made references to his family.
Officers working on Operation Venetic, the NCA’s response to the takedown of EncroChat, used cell site data to show the encrypted handset travelling with Keating’s personal phone and vehicle.
Keating’s brother Matthew also had an EncroChat phone, and they used the platform to plan an 80kg importation of ketamine.
During a search of Michael Keating’s home, officers seized more than £50,000 in cash and a notebook that appeared to contain EncroChat handles.
He and Hussain were convicted of conspiring to import cocaine by a jury at Hove Crown Court in February 2024. Keating was today sentenced to 24 years’ imprisonment. Hussain was jailed for 10 years.
Labelle admitted conspiracy to import cocaine in October 2023 and was jailed for 17 years today.
Keating’s brother Matthew pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import ketamine in January 2024 and was sentenced to seven years and six months.
