Drag racing drug smuggler to pay back only £75,000

westcliff
A former drag racer and his son are set to repay less than £75,000 of the £3 million they made from a heroin smuggling operation.
Graham Ellis, 57, sneaked £3.5million of heroin and 26kg of high grade cocaine into the country using his haulage firm El-Trans as a front to fund his love of fast cars.
He had broken his neck and back while qualifying for the 2013 National Finals at the Santa Pod Raceway in Bedfordshire but continued to plough thousands into designing racing cars.
When police swooped on a rented industrial unit in Rawreth, Essex, they found a car worth 120,000 euros and a part-built drag racer car designed to be the fastest in Europe.
Ellis had already blown £97,000 on the speed machine and a further £50,000 was found stashed under the floorboards.
He was jailed for 20 years last year for conspiracy to import cocaine and heroin, conspiracy to supply the drugs and possession of criminal property
Son Gareth Ellis, 37, was also jailed for nine years at Southwark Crown Court for conspiracy to import and supply.
Lorry driver Gary Malone, 46, was locked up for 12 years after police caught him entering the country with a stash of drugs hidden in a fake HGV battery.
He was also charged with offences of conspiracy to supply and import class A drugs.
A confiscation hearing today (fri) found that both Ellis men had little available in the way of assets and so must only repay a fraction of their profits.
Mastermind Graham Ellis must repay just £40,000 of the more than £1.5million he made while his son has to stump up £32,000 after making £150,000 more than his father.
Malone must also give back almost £18,000 of his £43,489.21 profit – a far greater percentage than his co-defendants.
A probe into the Southend-based haulage firm by the Met’s Organised Crime Command revealed that the company was a front for the importation of cocaine and heroin. in commercial amounts.
The class A drugs were then passed on to organised criminal groups.
Lorry driver Malone travelled back into the UK via Dover on 2 July 2014 and entered the Titan Lorry Park in Thurrock.
The next day Gareth Ellis arrived at the lorry park together with Ian Hall, 36, who had driven down from Wigan.
Hall was later stopped by police on the M1 and found to be in possession of 9kgs of heroin and 3kgs of cocaine.
The crook was jailed for six years eight months imprisonment at St Albans Crown Court in July 2014 after pleading guilty to possession with intent to supply class A drugs.
He did not play a part in today’s confiscation hearing.
Police swooped on Malone as he drove his lorry over the Dartford Crossing after arriving back into the UK via Dover.
Hidden within a fake lorry battery that appeared to be powering the vehicle they discovered 14kg of high purity cocaine.
Graham and Gareth Ellis were both arrested in the early hours of July 11 2014 at their home addresses.
As a result of the operation police recovered a total of 26kgs of high grade cocaine and heroin with a street value of £3.5 million.
Detective Constable Steve Masterson, from the Organised Crime Command, said: ‘These three individuals thought that they had found a foolproof way of smuggling millions of pounds of cocaine and heroin into the country.
‘They were very wrong.
‘These significant sentences should act as a warning to those who would seek to smuggle class A drugs into the UK.
‘The MPS will use all its experience to pursue you and ensure you face justice.’
Graham Ellis, of London Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, was ordered to repay £40,000 of his £1,584,639.11 profit within three months or face a further year in jail.
Gareth Ellis, of Grosvenor Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, was given the same time period to repay £32,000 of his £1,689,539.80 benefit or spend 12 more months behind bars.
Malone, of London Road, Wokingham, Berkshire, is set to pay back £17,740.84 of his £43,489.21 within three months to avoid an extra six months in jail.
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