Trio jailed for organising 'Kinder Egg' cocaine mules

Thursday 10 March 2022

Three men from Liverpool, who arranged for drug mules to smuggle £80,000-worth of cocaine into Jersey concealed internally in Kinder Egg cases, have each been jailed for nine years and four months.

Stephen Graham Ferguson (40), David John Morgan (42) and David John Saunders (44) were sentenced by the Royal Court on Thursday after admitting to various charges, the most serious being conspiracy to supply the Class A drug.

Their jailing was the culmination of a three-year Customs investigation, dubbed Operation Kestrel.

As well as helping to arrange the importations, the trio were also convicted of money laundering for trying to transfer the proceeds of the smuggling to the UK.

The three drug couriers who were caught by Customs officers on arrival at the Airport have already been sentenced by the Royal Court.

The total amount of cocaine found on them was just under 300g, with a street value of up to £82,320. 

However, the prosecution argued that Kennedy, Morgan and Saunders had been involved in a number of other importations which had evaded the authorities. 

Pictured: The defendants organised for drug couriers to carry cocaine hidden internally in Kinder Egg containers and then tried to send money to the UK.

Crown Advocate Matthew Maletroit said: “The Defendants each played a role in a criminal enterprise which was concerned with the importation of commercial quantities of class A controlled drugs into Jersey, distribution to the local drugs market, and the laundering of proceeds of crime.

“The prosecution case stems from a lengthy investigation conducted by the Jersey Customs and Immigration Service which sought to identify the persons responsible for arranging the importation of commercial quantities of cocaine concealed internally and imported into the island by drugs couriers.

“Between 30 September 2019 and 9 August 2020, the Defendants conspired together and with others unknown to supply cocaine. 

“It was an ongoing drug trafficking enterprise, and the evidence demonstrates the defendants’ involvement in arranging at least three separate importations of cocaine, in respect of which the couriers have already been convicted and sentenced to lengthy terms of imprisonment.

“In order to fund such a drug trafficking operation, members of the enterprise needed to raise sufficient funds to purchase the drugs to be imported into the Island, and to cover their operating costs. 

“What that meant, in practical terms, is that they needed to arrange the movement of criminal proceeds from Jersey to the UK where the drugs were sourced.”

Advocate Maletroit told the court that Ferguson was viewed as the local principal in the enterprise.

“His role principally concerned the local receipt of the drugs following importation and the onward distribution of the local drugs market,” he said.

“Morgan and Saunders were primarily responsible for organising the importations. They recruited and liaised with the couriers in preparation for the importations, and made arrangements for their travel to Jersey.”

He added: “It is difficult to envisage a more extensive role and involvement in a drug trafficking operation than that performed by the defendants.” 

Defending Ferguson, Advocate Allana Binnie said that while her client accepted he had a pivotal role in the local enterprise, it was clear that he answered to someone in the UK further up the chain, who had made plans and suggestions, and told the defendants what to do and say. 

She argued that it was an unsophisticated operation, as evidenced by the fact that one of the couriers had been a friend of the defendants and another was her client’s cousin.

Also, the men had used their own bank accounts and made only basic attempts to cover their tracks, she said.

Representing Morgan, Advocate Francesca Pinel said that her client only played a minor role in the three importations. 

She added that he had not made thousands of pounds from his involvement, and the most expensive item that he bought from the proceeds had been perfume for his mother.

For Saunders, Advocate Ian Jones reiterated that at least one person - in the UK and not before the court - had been sitting above the trio directing operations.

“My client was not a mastermind and not even approaching it,” he said, adding that Saunders was highly exposed in the enterprise, which emphasised its lack of sophistication. 

The Bailiff, Tim Le Cocq, who was sitting with Jurats Jane Ronge, Kim Averty and Dr Gareth Hughes, sentenced the men to nine years and four months each, two months less that the nine-and-a-half years proposed by the Crown.

Pictured: The trio were sentenced in the Royal Court on Thursday morning.

The UK resident accused of ultimately overseeing the enterprise is under investigation by the UK authorities. 

After sentencing, Rhiannon Small, a Senior Manager at JCIS, said: "The sentences today are the culmination of what has been a very lengthy and complex investigation into a Liverpool-based syndicate, who were targeting Jersey to traffic Class A drugs. 

"JCIS officers have worked painstakingly and diligently to ensure that the men, who were facilitating multiple importations of commercial quantities of cocaine into Jersey, have been caught and have faced justice.

"The smuggling of drugs and the laundering of the proceeds of crime remain a high priority of the Customs & Immigration Service, and one which we will continue to work hard to combat."

The three men are estimated to have benefited by more than £276,000 from their criminal enterprise. Ferguson is judged to have benefited to the tune of £169,611, Morgan £53,959, and Saunders £53,252. 

The Court approved confiscation orders against Ferguson (£16,380), Morgan (£2,916) and Saunders (£7,772).  

Pictured top: Stephen Ferguson, David Morgan and David Saunders.