newsoholic Time to become News Oholic!
In the late 1980s, he came to a working agreement with Middlesbrough businessman Brian Charrington. In September 1991, using Charrington's personal yacht, the two men sailed to France on then-legal British visitor passports. They then traveled to Venezuela on British 10-year passports and arranged a deal with the Cali cartel to smuggle cocaine in steel boxes, concealed in lead ingots. On arrival in the UK, HM Customs and Excise cut open one ingot but found nothing. Having let the shipment pass, they were later informed by Dutch police that the drugs were held in the steel boxes; by which time Charrington, Warren, and the shipment were untraceable. However, the second shipment of 907 kilograms (2,000 lb) using the same method was already in transit from South America. When the shipment landed in the UK in early 1992, Charrington, Warren, and twenty-six others were placed under arrest in a prosecution brought by HM Customs and Excise. However, in preliminary court procedures, it was revealed by police that Charrington was a police informant for the North-East Regional Crime Squad. HM Customs officials went forward with their prosecution, despite protests from his police "handlers" Harry Knaggs and Ian Weedon. In Newcastle Crown Court, it was alleged that Warren was so well informed, that he knew the length of the largest drill bit owned by HM Customs, and therefore the size/depth of the required ingots. Eventually, through Conservative MP Tim Devlin, a meeting was arranged in which Customs was ordered to drop charges against Charrington on 28 January 1993. The case was dropped, with all accused including Warren acquitted of all charges. It is alleged that on release, Warren purposefully walked past the HM Customs agents, saying: "I'm off to spend my £87 million from the first shipment and you can't touch me." Several months later, Knaggs was spotted by HM Customs officials driving a £70,000 BMW, previously registered to Charrington.
The Biggest Smugglers In The World
In the late 1980s, he came to a working agreement with Middlesbrough businessman Brian Charrington. In September 1991, using Charrington's personal yacht, the two men sailed to France on then-legal British visitor passports. They then traveled to Venezuela on British 10-year passports and arranged a deal with the Cali cartel to smuggle cocaine in steel boxes, concealed in lead ingots. On arrival in the UK, HM Customs and Excise cut open one ingot but found nothing. Having let the shipment pass, they were later informed by Dutch police that the drugs were held in the steel boxes; by which time Charrington, Warren, and the shipment were untraceable. However, the second shipment of 907 kilograms (2,000 lb) using the same method was already in transit from South America. When the shipment landed in the UK in early 1992, Charrington, Warren, and twenty-six others were placed under arrest in a prosecution brought by HM Customs and Excise. However, in preliminary court procedures, it was revealed by police that Charrington was a police informant for the North-East Regional Crime Squad. HM Customs officials went forward with their prosecution, despite protests from his police "handlers" Harry Knaggs and Ian Weedon. In Newcastle Crown Court, it was alleged that Warren was so well informed, that he knew the length of the largest drill bit owned by HM Customs, and therefore the size/depth of the required ingots. Eventually, through Conservative MP Tim Devlin, a meeting was arranged in which Customs was ordered to drop charges against Charrington on 28 January 1993. The case was dropped, with all accused including Warren acquitted of all charges. It is alleged that on release, Warren purposefully walked past the HM Customs agents, saying: "I'm off to spend my £87 million from the first shipment and you can't touch me." Several months later, Knaggs was spotted by HM Customs officials driving a £70,000 BMW, previously registered to Charrington.