A gang of American drug runners recruited by crime bosses were told to hide in the toilets at Manchester Airport and wait for luggage containing £8million of cocaine.
The couriers – five women and two men – were recruited by drug barons in the US and offered between £3,000 and £4,000 to fly to the UK and pick up the 12 bags.
Inside was more than 300kg of the Class A drug. But the plan fell apart after a member of staff at an X-ray machine became suspicious of the rectangular-shaped blocks in the cases, and border officials swooped in.
The recruited members – all US nationals – were split into ‘teams’ and travelled to Manchester on different flights, Manchester Crown Court was told.
Brian Marealle, 32, and Laquesa Greer, 50, flew in from JFK Airport in New York. Charles Mass, 29, and his girlfriend Brianna Hunt, 22, came to the UK from Orlando.
And Yulibeth Gonzalez, 26, Leandra Royer, 26, and Chloe Sandoval, 24, flew from Los Angeles via Dusseldorf.
Three members of the group were arrested on the spot, four others were detained in rooms at the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel, opposite the airport – and Mass and Hunt – who were in a relationship – were found naked in bed when officers burst in.
One case has never been found. The rest contained cocaine with a wholesale value of around £700,000.
The judge said that ‘sophisticated criminals’ took advantage of other ‘naïve and foolish’ members of the gang who thought they could make ‘easy money’.
Yuilbath Gonzalez was sentenced to nine years after the attempted drug smuggling
Brianna Hunt, 22, and her boyfriend Charles Mass, 29, (pictured) ‘aborted their plan’ and were naked in a hotel bed when officers burst in and arrested them
Six people have now been jailed for their roles in the ‘sophisticated’ operation, which prosecutors said was ‘orchestrated’ by crooks further up the chain. Another faces prison pending a further hearing.
Their arrivals – on the morning May 31 last year – were timed to coincide with an incoming flight from Cancun in Mexico.
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On that plane were 12 suitcases, each containing between 22 and 24 blocks of cocaine. Every case had different a name tag attached.
The members were each given the details of two cases to collect. And all were told they would be paid between £3,000 and £4,000, plus travel expenses.
The ‘key orchestrator’ was a person named in court as ‘Nate’. He worked ‘in close connection’ with an associate called ‘Cruz’, prosecutors said. They recruited members; made travel arrangements; and communicated with them via WhatsApp and Telegram.
Royer helped recruit some of the others. In a message to a friend, she promised it was quick cash, that nobody had ever been arrested, and that it was ‘100 per cent secure’. Mass recruited his girlfriend, Hunt.
A previous trip on May 11 saw Mass fly from Barbados to Manchester with no luggage. He stayed at the Holiday Inn for a night. A suitcase containing 20kg of cocaine was left unclaimed at baggage.
On May 24 Mass, Hunt and Marealle travelled to Manchester from Cancun. The the court heard that was a ‘failed trip’. A message sent to Maraelle read: ‘Cases didn’t make it.’
Pictured from left to right are: Brian Marealle, Laquesa Greer, Brianna Hunt, Yulibeth Gonzalez, Leandra Royer, and Charles Mass
Laquesa Greer flew in from JFK Airport in New York
File photo of Manchester Airport’s Terminal 1
In a message to ‘Nate’ a week before the trip which ended in her arrest, Greer said: ‘As long as I go and come back safely and get the money, I’m good..’
On May 31, a member of staff at Terminal 2 baggage spotted a bag with ‘unusual contents’ – rectangular shaped blocks. More bags were flagged and Border Force officers were called.
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The group had been given instructions to hide in the toilets before getting the cases. Sandoval picked up a bag and took it to somewhere in Bury, before returning to the Hilton. Gonzalez picked up a case, but was stopped. The last message sent from her phone, to ‘Nate’, read: ‘I got caught.’
Mass and Hunt ‘aborted their plan’ and made their way to the Hilton, where they were joined by Royer, who had been ‘tipped off’. Marealle and Greer were detained as they stood by the carousel.
Later that day, Royer and Sandoval were arrested at the Hilton, whilst Mass and Hunt were naked in bed when they were detained.
Sandoval, Hunt, Royer, Greer, Mass and Gonzalez, all of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to frequently evading the prohibition of the importation of a Class A controlled drug before a trial was due to begin. Marealle, also of no fixed address, stood trial and was convicted by a jury.
Marealle was sentenced to 13 years; Mass and Royer to 11 years, eight months; Gonzalez to nine years; Hunt to seven years, six months; and Greer to eight years, six months. Once they are released, they face automatic deportation to the US. Sandoval will be sentenced on February 14.
Leandra Royer helped recruit some of the others. In a message to a friend, she promised it was quick cash and that claimed nobody had ever been arrested
Brian Marealle was detained as he stood by the luggage carousel
Passing sentence Judge Tom Gilbart said it was a ‘considerable’ and ‘sophisticated’ operation. He said all those involved ‘knew they were doing something obviously illegal’, but ‘wanted to make money’.
‘However it was nothing compared to the cost of the risk you were taking on for others,’ the judge told them. He said Marealle, Mass and Royer played a ‘significant’ role as they had a ‘great knowledge of the scale of the enterprise’.
The judge said Hunt – who was ‘young, naïve and impressionable’ – Gonzalez, and Greer, who is suffering with cancer, played a ‘lesser role’.
‘Each of you were taken advantage of by more sophisticated criminals who preyed on your naïve and foolish view that you could make easy money,’ he added.