The Met and the National Crime Agency dismantled an organised group that planned to smuggle about 600kg of cocaine into the UK hidden inside frozen fish consignments from South America, with an estimated value of £20m. Arrests in the UK and Spain led to extraditions, prosecutions and convictions, with sentences ranging from 13 to 22 years. The inquiry also uncovered separate plots to import industrial quantities of ketamine. Encrypted EncroChat data and international cooperation were crucial to the case.
Cod in the Act: Gang Jailed Over Plot To Hide 600kg of Cocaine Inside Frozen Fish
Scott Richards, one of two gang members arrested in raids in Essex, was jailed for 14 years and six months - Metropolitan Police Service
A criminal network has been sentenced after planning to smuggle roughly 600kg of cocaine into the UK concealed inside consignments of frozen fish shipped from South America. Specialist officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Metropolitan Police uncovered the plot after encrypted messages on the EncroChat service were recovered and analysed.
How the Plot Worked
Investigators say the five-person group intended to source the cocaine in Ecuador and have the shipments delivered to Billingsgate fish market in central London, where one conspirator, Scott Unwin, ran a legitimate business. Police estimate the street value of the drugs at about £20 million.
Scott Unwin operated a legitimate business at Billingsgate fish market, where the shipments were due to be delivered - Metropolitan Police Service
Arrests and Evidence
In August 2023, officers executed simultaneous raids in Dagenham and Colchester, arresting Unwin, 52, and his co‑defendant Scott Richards, 51. Searches uncovered large sums of cash and encrypted phones. Analysis of seized devices revealed detailed arrangements to traffic cocaine and ketamine, launder proceeds — including cryptocurrency transfers — and use lawful businesses and transport routes to disguise the illegal trade.
Two additional suspects, Samuel Tokeley, 57, and Nicholas Shilling, 63, were detained by Spanish authorities in separate operations — Tokeley in Alicante and Shilling on Ibiza — and were later extradited to the UK. Tokeley was identified as the coordinator responsible for supplying hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and ketamine.
Nicholas Shilling and Samuel Tokeley, below, who were arrested in separate operations in Spain, were each jailed for 22 years - Metropolitan Police Service
Related Conspiracies and Prosecutions
The inquiry also exposed related plots to import what investigators described as 'industrial quantities' of ketamine, with messages showing plans to source and process hundreds of kilograms in Latin America for wholesale importation into the UK.
At Woolwich Crown Court on 23 March, Tokeley pleaded guilty to the offences. Richards, Unwin and Shilling were convicted by a jury following a trial that concluded in May. A fifth defendant, Nicky Bowers, was previously convicted of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, conspiracy to import Class B drugs and conspiracy to transfer criminal property, and was sentenced in January to 16 years' imprisonment.
Metropolitan Police Service
Sentencing
This week at Snaresbrook Crown Court, the remaining defendants were sentenced for conspiracy to import Class A drugs. Tokeley and Shilling were each handed 22-year terms. Richards, from Wickford, Essex, received 14½ years, and Unwin, of Dagenham, was sentenced to 13 years.
Detective Chief Inspector Dean Grafton, of the Met's specialist crime unit, said: "This investigation exposed an organised crime group operating on an industrial scale, attempting to hide their criminal activity where people were going about their daily business. Through meticulous analysis of EncroChat data and close collaboration with the National Crime Agency and our international partners, we were able to identify those responsible and gather overwhelming evidence against them."
The investigation highlights how encrypted communications and international cooperation were central to both the criminals' planning and the law-enforcement response that dismantled the network.
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