(Photo by Colin Davis on Unsplash)
A drug kingpin who smuggled and helped to distribute £132m-worth of a Class A drug disguised as printer ink is facing time behind bars after being found guilty.
Jonathan Strogylos was found guilty at Isleworth Crown Court this week after being identified as the ringleader of a large-scale illegal operation.
The 36-year-old was part of a group of 12 men who helped supply cocaine in Britain.
According to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) he “ran and controlled an importation route under the guise of importing printer toner cartridges”.
The CPS said his operation was used to smuggle drugs into Britain and also offered his services to other organised crime groups, concealing the drugs and demanding a fee per kilo.
It said the Class A drug was brought to the Netherlands before being concealed in toner cartridges, then transported to the UK through a courier service.
The courier delivered them to Oldbury Safestore, to a unit the gang-controlled, with the drugs then supplied from the location.
Authorities said this took place on three occasions in 2020 with the total amount of cocaine imported in just three weeks, having a street value of around £132m.
The CPS said the case came to the fore as part of its Operation Venetic, which is a wider, National Crime Agency-led probe into encrypted EncroChat phone conversations.
“The operation uncovered a large volume of encrypted messages. These messages evidenced that Strogylos and others had been running the importation route for three years on a weekly basis”, the CPS said in a statement.
Giorgina Venturella, Specialist Prosecutor for the CPS said: “Jonathan Strogylos refused to admit his involvement in this organised drug importation and distribution operation.
“The messages uncovered in this case made it clear that the organised crime group, lead by Strogylos, had a sophisticated process in place to import and subsequently manoeuvre colossal quantities of cocaine across the UK.
“Our Proceeds of Crime team will now commence confiscation proceedings to ensure the group do not financially benefit from their criminality.”
