Downfall of a cocaine-smuggling gang

Duncan Newport received 26 years in prison for his role

A complex cocaine smuggling plan, involving welding, colour-coded phones and heavy machinery, has ended in lengthy prison terms for a father, son and accomplice.

Thwarted by months of surveillance by British customs officials, Rex Newport, 58 and his son Duncan Newport, 36, never benefited from the 651kg of cocaine they smuggled into Britain.

Neither did Mark Reeves, 38, and Louis Hillard, 57, who were all convicted in April 2004 of attempting to import the cocaine.

Duncan Newport received 26 years, his father 20 years, and Reeves 18 on Monday. Hillard is yet to be sentenced for his role in the UK's largest inland drug seizure.

The sentencing is the final chapter for Operation Elysian, a Customs and Excise project stretching back to November 2002, when officials caught Reeves and Hillard unloading the £55m cargo.

Bulldozer

From Ecuador to Felixstowe, the cocaine had travelled concealed in a bulldozer - a hiding place constructed by professional welder Reeves, who travelled to the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil in April 2002 to perform his part of the plan.

Welding equipment was used to dismantle the concealed storage

He was to dismantle his own handiwork with an angle grinder eight months later in Wolverhampton, with the help of Hillard, and shortly before customs officers stepped in to arrest the pair, followed quickly by the arrest of the Newports.

Papers found after the arrests showed Hillard had used about 25 aliases to set up bogus companies and arrange the importation of the container.

Customs officers were aware the shipment was arriving and had examined it when it was off-loaded at Felixstowe, before allowing it to continue on its route, under surveillance.

Phone communications had played a central role in arranging the delivery.

In two vehicles used Hillard and Duncan Newport, officers found pre-paid mobile phones with coloured dots on them - seven in each vehicle.

In Hillard's van there were also two other mobile phones, boxed and unused; a bundle of phone cards; a sim card; and pieces of paper showing a telephone number coding system.

Mark Reeves travelled to Ecuador to adapt the bulldozer

In Newport's car there were £150 worth of public telephone cards and two leather bags containing large quantities of £1 coins, which officers believe were potentially for use in telephone kiosks.

In the weeks leading up to the cocaine's arrival, Newport had been spotted driving about Oldbury, West Midlands, and meeting Reeves and Hillard.

He was also frequently seen using public telephones - in one four-hour period he used 12 different phone booths.

Officers also found a coded number system used to translate telephone numbers into letters making them indecipherable without access to the code.

A notebook that was found contained the mobile telephone numbers of some of the defendants, along with other numbers translated into letters using the code system.

At the time of his arrest, Hillard was found with the same code system.

There was also documentation in Duncan Newport's handwriting indicating "$500 for each of 648 kilos", appearing to relate to payment for importing the cocaine. The actual amount seized was 651kg.

The cocaine carried a 'trademark' from the Ecuadorian drug cartel

He had been spotted driving about Oldbury, West Midlands, in the weeks leading up the container's arrival, meeting Reeves and Hillard.

He was also frequently seen using public telephones. In one four-hour period, he used 12 different phone booths.

Rex Newport, as well as running the Newport Plant Services with his son, ran companies importing and exporting goods from Ecuador and regularly travelled to the South American country from his Miami home.

Two other men have also been arrested and prosecuted in Ecuador for their alleged part in the smuggling attempt.