THE BIGGEST EVER SINGLE SEIZURE OF COCAINE DESTINE

THE BIGGEST EVER SINGLE SEIZURE OF COCAINE DESTINED FOR
BRITAIN’S STREETS WAS DISCOVERED BECAUSE ITS OWNER ‘WAS SWEATING
PROFUSELY AND HAVING TROUBLE CONCENTRATING ON HIS FINANCIAL TIMES’,
ISLEWORTH CROWN COURT HEARD ON TUESDAY.

BRAZILIAN MAGNUS BERNADI WAS SPOTTED AS HE WAITED BY THE

BAGGAGE CAROUSEL AT HEATHROW’S TERMINAL TWO, SAID MR DAVID COCKS QC,

PROSECUTING.

AS HE AND HIS BROTHER WHEELED THEIR TROLLEY THROUGH THE
‘GREEN’ CHANNEL THEY WERE STOPPED BY CUSTOMS OFFICER NICHOLAS
FISHER AND THEIR SAMSONITE SUITCASE RIPPED APART TO REVEAL 12.

9 KILOS
OF THE DRUG.

‘BOTH THESE BROTHERS WERE CAUGHT RED-HANDED SMUGGLING
VIRTUALLY PURE COCAINE INTO THIS COUNTRY WITH A STREET VALUE OF

#2.

750,000.

‘ SAID COUNSEL.

IN THE DOCK WERE MAGNUS BERNADI, 38, DESIGNER AND GEM-DEALER AND

HIS BROTHER OSVALDO, 26, A STUDENT, WHOSE LONDON ADDRESS WAS A #440

A WEEK FLAT IN PORCHESTER GATE, BAYSWATER, WHERE THEY ENJOYED ‘A VERY

LUXURIOUS LIFE-STYLE’, SAID COUNSEL.

BOTH DENY ILLEGALLY IMPORTING COCAINE HYDROCHLORIDE THROUGH
HEATHROW ON APRIL 17 LAST YEAR.

‘THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT MAGNUS IS A VERY RICH MAN,’ CONTINUED
MR COCKS.

‘OSVALDO WAS STUDYING ENGLISH IN LONDON AND LIVING AT THE
FLAT.

BOTH ARE HEAVILY INVOLVED IN THE DRUGS TRADE.

‘THIS VERY VALUBALE CONSIGNMENT OF COCAINE WAS CONCEALED IN
TWO COMPARTMENTS IN THE SUITCASE WHICH HAD BEEN SPECIALLY MADE FOR

THE PURPOSE AND A NOTE DEALING WITH HOW TO DISMANTLE THE CASE WAS

FOUND AT THE LONDON FLAT.

‘

THIS WAS NOT THE FIRST TIME THE BROTHERS HAD BROUGHT COCAINE
INTO THE COUNTRY, ALLEGED COUNSEL.

WHEN THEY WERE ARRESTED OSVALDO

WAS SAID TO HAVE TOLD CUSTOMS OFFICERS THAT HIS OLDER BROTHER BROUGHT

ANOTHER LARGE CONSIGNMENT A YEAR EARLIER BY THE SAME METHOD.

‘THE DRUGS CONCERNED CAME FROM SANTA CRUZ IN BOLIVIA,’ SAID MR

COCKS.

THERE IS A FAMILY HOME IN RIO DE JANEIRO AND A THIRD BROTHER,
ALEXANDER, LIVING AT BELLO HORIZONTO NEAR THE BOLIVIAN BORDER, THE

COURT WAS TOLD.

‘THIS COCAINE WAS CERTAINLY PROCURED IN BOLIVIA ON A VISIT TO
SANTA CRUZ BY MAGNUS WHEN HE WAS STAYING WITH ALEXANDER,’ CONTINUED

COUNSEL.

HE TOOK IT TO ZURICH WHERE HE WAS MET BY OSVALDO AND THE TWO
FLEW INTO HEATHROW.

MAGNUS HAD EVEN ACQUIRED A SECOND PASSPORT SO
THAT HE DID NOT HAVE TO USE THE ONE BEARING A BOLIVIAN VISA, SAID
COUNSEL.

AN ALMOST IDENTICAL TRIP OCCURRED A YEAR EARLIER, ACCORDING TO
OSVALDO, WHEN THEY HIRED A PLANE TO TAKE THEM FROM RIO INTO BOLIVIA
AND AGAIN RETURNED TO LONDON VIA ZURICH.

THAT TIME THEY BROUGHT IN
FIVE KILOS OF THE DRUG AND OSVALDO WAS PAID FIVE PER CENT OF THE
WHOLESALE PRICE OBTAINED BY MAGNUS, OF #32,000 PER KILO, IT WAS

ALLEGED.

.

‘THE PRICE INCREASES AS IT IS SOLD ON AND MIXED WITH OTHER

SUBSTANCES BEFORE IT REACHES STREET LEVEL,’ SAID MR COCKS.

DESCRIBING MAGNUS’S LIFE-STYLE, MR COCKS SAID HE DEPOSITED
100,000 DOLLARS IN HIS BANK ACCOUNT IN THE STRAND IN NOVEMBER 1983

HAVING JUST PAID CASH FOR A NEW MERCEDES AND #2,000 CASH AS A DEPOSIT

AND MONTH’S RENT ON A FLAT.

IN FENRUARY 1984 HE MADE ANOTHER SIMILAR

DEPOSIT IN HIS BANK ACCOUNT AND, WHILE IN ZURICH LATER THAT YEAR,
BOUGHT A FERRARI FOR CASH.

‘SO IN ONE YEAR HE PAID OUT #50,000 IN CASH IN RESPECT OF CARS

ALONE,’ SAID COUNSEL.

AND AT THE END OF THE YEAR HE PAID OUT MORE

THAN #3,000 CASH IN RENT AND DEPOSIT ON THE PORCHESTER GATE FLAT.

HE ALWAYS STAYED AT THE BEST HOTELS SUCH AS THE ATLANTIS
SHERATON IN ZURICH AND THE RITZ IN LONDON.

‘ONE OF MAGNUS’S HABITS, ALMOST A COMPULSION, IS TO MAKE LONG
LISTS OF THINGS,’ SAID COUNSEL.

SO WHEN CUSTOMS OFFICERS CAME TO
INVESTIGATE HIM THEY FOUND ‘SUCH WAS HIS MAGPIE LIFE WHERE THE
RETENTION OF DOCUMENTS AND LISTS WAS CONCERNED THAT THEY EVEN FOUND
THE RECEIPT FOR THE SAMSONITE SUITCASE’.

IN HIS LUGGAGE THEY FOUND A ‘RECIPE’ FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF
COCAINE HYDROCHLORIDE AND AT HIS FLAT WAS A BOOK CONTAINING

CALCULATIONS WHICH MATCHED THE CONSIGNMENT.

THERE WAS ALSO A MAP OF
BRAZIL AND BOLIVIA WITH VARIOUS PLACES MARKED.

ON ARREST MAGNUS SAID HE WAS GIVEN THE SUITCASE IN RIO BY AN

AMERICAN AND ASKED TO DELIVER IT TO A WOMAN IN LONDON.

BUT OSVALDO EVENTUALLY ADMITTED HE KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON, SAID

COUNSEL.

HE SAID HIS BROTHER HAD BEEN INVOLVED IN THE DRUG
TRADE FOR ABOUT 18 MONTHS AND REVEALED DETAILS OF THE EARLIER TRIP.

HE HAD NO MONEY AND HIS BROTHER SUPPORTED HIM, HE SAID.

THE TRIAL, EXPECTED TO LAST THREE WEEKS, CONTINUES.

ENDS