£190m cocaine plot & money laundered through gold – two jailed.

Two men who attempted to smuggle vast quantities of cocaine from South America and laundered their profits through a Hatton Garden gold merchant have been sentenced to prison.

Matthew Byrne, 44, from Sevenoaks, and Beau Devlin, 33, from east London, were brought to justice by the Organised Crime Partnership (OCP), a joint unit of the National Crime Agency and the Metropolitan Police Service.

The duo used encrypted devices to coordinate their criminal activities, with Byrne operating under the aliases ‘slickvalley’ and ‘officialcleaner,’ while Devlin was known as ‘scalpcleaner.’ Between March and June 2020, they attempted to import approximately five tonnes of cocaine through various European ports, including Antwerp and the UK. They also discussed smuggling operations involving five to ten tonnes of cocaine at a time over the previous eight years.

Byrne and Devlin had extensive connections within the criminal underworld, including a firearms dealer. In one plot, Byrne even conspired to orchestrate the dealer’s escape from a prison transport van after his arrest.

Their expertise in cocaine trafficking was evident in their knowledge of smuggling routes, concealment methods, and contacts with South American drug wholesalers. They primarily used banana shipments as cover loads, setting up front companies to facilitate the operation. When dummy shipments contained only bananas and couldn’t be sold legally, Byrne instructed Devlin to destroy them. These trial runs alone reportedly cost them £300,000.

Their elaborate scheme ultimately collapsed under law enforcement scrutiny, leading to their conviction and imprisonment………………….please watch thanks………………………..

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