Knowledge mopeds ‘used as cover for drugs ring’

An organised crime gang supplied cocaine across London by posing as trainee black cab drivers learning ‘The Knowledge’ on mopeds, a court heard today (MON).

The drugs ring used the disguise to go undetected by police for up to three years before they were brought down in an undercover operation by the National Crime Agency, it is claimed.

Dawn raids on the gang members led to the seizure of high-purity cocaine with a street value of around £1m as well as large quantities of cutting agents and cash, jurors heard.

Seven men have already admitted involvement in the drugs conspiracy but Thelma Flaherty, 61, is now on trial at the Old Bailey accused of allowing her home to be used as a ‘safe house’.

Officers found a ‘drugs kit’ including latex gloves in her understairs cupboard as well as a safe containing 366g of cocaine at 32 percent purity, it is claimed.

Flaherty had also stashed £7,000 around the property in Surrey Quays, southeast London – hiding one bundle under the mattress of a child’s cot, jurors heard.

Prosecutor Peter Clement told the court: ‘This was an organised crime gang whose principal business was the supply of cocaine, operating a top to bottom supply chain for the drug on a large scale.

‘It was pan-London and beyond. The motivation was simple – money. Keeping the supply in house maximised the profits.’

Mr Clement said the gang used mopeds equipped with containers known as ‘top boxes’ and a mocked-up Knowledge board.

He said: ‘The Knowledge board is ostensibly for those learning for the black cab drivers’ London Knowledge test.

‘You may have seen drivers like this on a moped as they go around London learning the streets. They are inconspicuous vehicles.’

Checks with Transport for London revealed that none of the gang had passed or even registered for ‘The Knowledge, the court heard.

Mr Clement said: ‘The moped were a mock-up, a front for the distribution of cocaine.’

One of the gang, 33 year-old Daniel Ward, began to purchase the mopeds in September 2012, the court heard.

Mr Clement said: ‘The conspiracy may have been running since 2012… long before the police started actively targeting this gang in 2015.’

The NCA carried out surveillance on the gang and even installed cameras at a lock-up garage beneath a block of flats at Midway House in Clerkenwell, central London, the court heard.

When police raided the garage on 2 March this year they found evidence of the drug supply ring including self-sealed bags and traces of white powder, it is claimed.

Officers found 10kg of cocaine at nearly 90 per cent purity and 14kg of benzocaine cutting agent at the home of Dean Standen, 34, in Eltham, south London, the court heard.

The cocaine was marked with the labels ‘Fox’ and ‘Cocoa’, the court heard.

Mr Clement said: ‘Sold wholesale it could fetch between £290,000 and £337,000.

‘If broken down, cut and sold at street level it would be somewhere in the order of £963,000.’

At Flaherty’s home investigators forced open a safe and found three self-sealed bags containing 366g of cocaine at 32 per cent purity.

There were also Tupperware boxes, latex gloves and cash totalling just over £7,000, as well as a mobile phone allegedly used for the conspiracy.

Mr Clement said: ‘Thelma Flaherty provided a service that was critical for the conspiracy, such as a safe house, a transit point allowing drugs, drugs supply kit and some profits to be kept at her home.

‘The prosecution case is she is implicated by a combination of police surveillance evidence, phone data and traffic and indeed by what was found at her address when police searched in on 2 March this year.’

Flaherty claims she was not involved in the drugs conspiracy at all, jurors heard.

Mr Clement said: ‘Her case is she knew nothing going on to do with that safe or anything to do with drug supply.’

The prosecution suggest that de-crypted messages found on other gang member’s phones support their case that she was involved.

Jurors were told that Standen, Ward, Niall Kellaghan, 29, from New Eltham, Joseph Maloney, 33, from Shoreditch, Jack Lynam, 27, from Surrey Quays, Jay Tripp, 34, from Fyfield in Essex, and Frederick Jennings, 19, from Lewisham, have already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine.

An eighth man is yet to stand trial, the court heard.

Flaherty, of [26] Reveley Square, Surrey Quays, southeast London, denies conspiracy to supply cocaine.

The trial continues.