Two former fresh produce directors have been remanded in custody until January 2012 to face trial after a drugs bust in January.
Adrian and Anthony Brown, formerly of Oska Catering Liverpool Ltd, will face trial at Ipswich Crown Court next year after a shipment of pineapples containing cocaine was discovered on 4 January. The pair were arrested on 20 January. They will stand trial alongside three others.
Former Merseyside police intelligence officer Adrian Brown, along with his brother, has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to import 107kg of cocaine in a shipment of pineapples from Costa Rica.
The discovery followed an investigation by the Serious Organised Crime Agency and Costa Rica’s Drug Control Police, who had been monitoring Oska Catering since last October, according to the Liverpool Echo.
Oska Catering was set up in late 2009, operating from the Knowsley Industrial Park in Merseyside. Adrian Brown worked for the police for 30 years until retirement in 2009, spending his later career years in the Intelligence and Security Bureau responsible for counter-terrorism, undercover surveillance and managing informants.
The Browns’ legal team said Oska Catering received “10 to 12 consignments of various fruit” and the company’s business model is under scrutiny. The shipment left Costa Rica on 22 December 2010 bound for Rotterdam, where the class A drugs were discovered.
The fruit was due to move on in another vessel to Belfast and then on to Holyhead in North Wales. The route via Belfast has reportedly been questioned but Oska Catering claims it was trying to break into the Northern Irish fruit supply market.
The defendants have faced numerous court hearings and the full trial is expected to take around 10 weeks.
FPC CEO Nigel Jenney said of instances in which drugs have been found in fresh produce consignments: “Sadly, unscrupulous rogues target fresh produce as a carrier for smuggling drugs due to its high volumes and relative low values, trading routes, speed of transportation and fast movement through customs. Importers work hard to introduce security measures and minimise the opportunity for tampering as no reputable trader wants to be associated with such illegal practices.”
No comments yet