The conspiracy was around the importation of more than 50 tonnes of drugs, worth millions of pounds, from the Netherlands, officers say.<\/p>\n
NCA branch commander Jayne Lloyd called the arrests “massively significant”.<\/p>\n
The arrests took place in London, Manchester, Stockport, St Helens, Warrington, Bolton, Dewsbury, and Leeds.<\/p>\n
“We believe it’s the biggest ever conspiracy that we’ve seen in the UK,” said Ms Lloyd, NCA regional head of investigations for the north of England.<\/p>\n
The 13 are suspected of being part of the UK arm of a well established organised crime group that allegedly used Dutch and British front companies to import heroin, cocaine and cannabis.<\/p>\n
Four men and two women arrested in April by Dutch police, on a European Arrest Warrant, are awaiting extradition to the UK and are suspected of being part of the same conspiracy.<\/p>\n
The 13 men are alleged to have imported drugs on numerous occasions between February 2017 and October 2018, including three consignments intercepted in 2018 with a total street value of more than \u00a338m.<\/p>\n
“We suspect these men were involved in an industrial-scale operation – the biggest ever uncovered in the UK – bringing in tonnes of deadly drugs that were distributed to crime groups throughout the country,” Ms Lloyd said.<\/p>\n
The investigation is linked to an operation in 2015 that saw 13 people jailed for a total of 176 years after the seizure of more than 100kg of heroin.<\/p>\n
Ms Lloyd said she hoped the arrests would “have a big impact” on the county lines drugs trade – in which drugs are transported form cities to users across the country – which was having a “devastating effect on the public, vulnerable children and the economy”.<\/p>\n
The NCA says the investigation involved European police forces and agencies, including\u00a0Europol<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Eurojust<\/a>, as well as the UK\u00a0Border Force<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Revenue & Customs.<\/a><\/p>\n “By working closely with partners here and overseas, in particular the Dutch national police, we believe we have dismantled a well established drug supply route,” Ms Lloyd said.<\/p>\n This investigation has got results thanks to cross-border European co-operation.<\/p>\n Six arrests by Dutch investigators were under the EU’s European Arrest Warrant, which aims to swiftly extradite suspects to face justice in the UK.<\/p>\n But the UK won’t be able to use this tool if it leaves the EU without a security deal.<\/p>\n The UK will also, overnight, leave Europol and Eurojust – both of which were involved in this investigation.<\/p>\n They co-ordinate the sharing of information and evidence that police and prosecutors use to put serious criminals behind bars.<\/p>\n The government has, however,\u00a0today published a 159-page “No Deal Readiness” report.<\/a><\/p>\n If you get to page 153, you will find it admits that leaving the EU without a deal amounts to a “loss of capability” for British police.<\/p>\n And it further admits that the proposed alternatives “cannot fully compensate for the loss of EU co-operation tools”.<\/p>\n Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"Analysis](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/10AC7\/production\/_104759286_dominiccasciani-nc.png\")
<\/span><\/figure>\n