Gang jailed after £1.2 MILLION of drugs seized in Grimsby
The ringleader's text messages showed he was directing drug trading across continents
An international drugs ring has been brought down by Police, after officers in Grimsby found up to £1.2million worth of drugs in a car.
Detectives in the West Midlands led the operation into drugs trading across the UK, eastern Europe and America.
But it was Humberside Police officers who stopped a BMW in Grimsby last October, and found the stash of up to £1million-worth of cocaine, along with around £200,000-worth of cocaine and MDMA.
Two members of the gang - Ilja Palionnijs and Egons Semjonovs - were already under Police surveillance, and CCTV showed them putting holdalls filled with the stash into the vehicle, outside a hotel in the town.
The BMW driver Igor Gridin and passenger Aleksej Sagamogas were then stopped shortly afterwards and all four men - from Latvia - were arrested and subsequently charged with possession with intent to supply drugs.
Officers found a rucksack in the vehicle with packaging material and receipts which showed items weighing a number of kilos had been transported to other parts of the world. This included two parcels intercepted in America which contained drugs.
Text messages from ring leader Palionnijs' phone showed he was directing the trade of drugs across continents. He and Semjonovs had flown from Riga to London and then at some stage collected the drugs.
They had travelled to Grimsby separately to Gridin and Sagamogas who then drove from London to meet them the next day for the exchange. CCTV evidence secured following the arrests showed Gridin and Sagamogas had previously been involved in the distribution of drug packages.
The four men were jailed for almost 50 years combined at Great Grimsby Crown Court on 8 September 2021.
The four were sentenced as follows for possession with intent to supply Class A and B drugs:
Ilja Palionnijs, aged 31, of no fixed address, was jailed for 14 years and four months
Egons Semjonovs (29), of no fixed address, was jailed for 10 years and six months
Igor Gridin (36) of no fixed address, was jailed for 12 years and three months
Aleksej Sagamogas (31) of no fixed address, was jailed for 10 years and six months