Four members of a gang which smuggled more than a million pounds worth of drugs into a north Shropshire airfield have been jailed for a total of 57 years.
The drugs were flown into Sleap Airfield, near Wem.
Liverpool Crown Court heard the drugs were transported from Germany to isolated airfields in northern France before being flown by light aircraft to the UK.
Cocaine smuggled in on the flight to Sleap in November 2005 went undetected and it was only by chance a second consignment of 18kg was discovered when it was flown into Blackpool.
The cocaine, discovered when the flight landed at Blackpool Airport in February last year, was worth £1.2 million and Judge Mark Brown said he was satisfied a similar quantity had been brought in to Sleap. The court heard there were no customs or immigration officers at either airfield.Jurors unanimously convicted four men – Ian Wilde, 54, of Lymm, Warrington; Rodney Forbes, 40, Grays, Essex; James Horvat, 54, of Cannock; and Terry Burns, 41, of Chafford Hundred, Essex – of conspiracy to smuggle. Three pilots involved – Philip Barton, 28, of Wigan; Jason Cook, 38, of Bolton; and Richard Kaprielian, 39, of Macclesfield – were all cleared.
Judge Brown jailed Wilde and Forbes for 18 years. Drugs courier Horvat received 14 years and Terry Burns received seven years.
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