Four men have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 13 to 22 years at Snaresbrook Crown Court after police dismantled an organised crime network plotting to smuggle more than £20m worth of cocaine and ketamine into Britain.

Samuel Tokeley, 57, of Alicante, Spain, and Nicholas Shilling, 63, of Dubai, were each jailed for 22 years. Scott Richards, 51, of Wickford, Essex, received 14-and-a-half years, while 52-year-old Scott Unwin, of Dagenham, was sentenced to 13 years.

We previously reported that narcotics worth more than £20m had been seized in frozen fish deliveries. The Metropolitan Police has now clarified that although the gang organised the logistics to import roughly 600kg of cocaine from South America, the shipment never actually took place. Detectives uncovered the plan, dubbed the "Fish Conspiracy", by decrypting communications on the EncroChat messaging network.

According to the Met, encrypted messages revealed the group discussing shipping documentation, payments, and contacts in Ecuador tasked with sourcing the Class A stimulant. The illicit consignments were intended to be delivered under the cover of legitimate frozen seafood freight to Unwin's commercial fish business at Billingsgate Market.

The investigation, launched in 2020 by the Met's Specialist Crime Command, also uncovered a separate conspiracy to import industrial quantities of ketamine. Police said hundreds of kilograms of the Class B drug were sourced and processed in continental Europe before being brought into the UK for wholesale distribution.

Unwin and Richards were arrested in Essex in August 2023, while Tokeley and Shilling were detained in Spain by Spanish authorities working with the National Crime Agency and the Met, before being extradited to the UK. In addition to conspiracy to import Class A drugs, Unwin, Richards, and Tokeley were sentenced for various related offences including conspiracy to import Class B drugs and acquiring criminal property.

Detective Chief Inspector Dean Grafton said the operation had dismantled a group operating on an industrial scale. I will continue to track whether the Crown pursues confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act against the four men.