How city gangsters who sold high-grade cocaine to 10,000 clients were busted
The gang, headed by a 57-year-old grandfather who fronted as an antiques dealer, had more than 10,000 clients on their books.
It's thought their line, called Top Gear or City Gear, was particularly popular with wealthy Londoners who work and party in the Square Mile.
Detectives said the purity of their cocaine was up to 60% higher than the street average, allowing them to charge higher prices.
Ledgers showed they made sales of £14,480 in just one week, suggesting they could have netted as much as £728,000 a year.
'This was a serious and sophisticated drug supply operation which would have resulted in large quantities of cocaine being sold over an extended period of time,' said DC Matt Cooper of the City of London Police's Serious Organised Crime Team.
'This was one of the longest running and biggest cocaine lines in the City of London.'
Head honcho Nathan Samuels led the operation while reportedly running a a business selling antiques and jewellery and living in a council house near Waterloo Station.
He was helped by his son Matthew, 33, and Islington-based 24-year-old Josh Atherton.
The drugs were couriered to clients by Aaron Bretao, 43, Martin Gupta, 38, and Michael Redgrave, 56, a licensed taxi driver who used his black cab to get to drop-offs.
Detectives began penetrating the operation after catching another courier, Gary Miller, 36, from Islington, making a cocaine delivery.
Using his phone records they were able to piece together details of customers and fellow couriers.
The bust was unusual because it reportedly involved almost no large-scale drug seizures.
According to MailOnline, the couriers were arrested shortly after making drop-offs in the summer of 2023.
Cocaine was recovered from stunned customers, while call data and delivery locations allowed officers to make arrests without the couriers having drugs on them.
The seizure of more phones then enabled detectives to uncover details about the more senior members of the operation.
Samuels and his son were arrested simultaneously around two months after their couriers were arrested.
DC Cooper added: 'We will continue to work tirelessly to disrupt and tackle serious and organised crime groups and these sentences demonstrate our commitment to putting criminals involved in drug lines and drug supply behind bars.
'We hope that this sends out a clear message to those involved in the illegal drugs trade, as well as a reassurance to members of the public, that we will take action against those criminals and bring them to justice.'
The six were sentenced today at London's Inner Crown Court after being convicted of supplying cocaine.
Samuels senior was jailed today for nine years, while his son was sentenced to three-and-a-half years.
Redgrave, of Cornwall Road, SE1, was jailed to for two years and nine months.
Bretao received three years in jail, while Gupta received four years and three months.
Atherton, who also pleaded guilty of possession of a weapon for the discharge of a noxious liquid, was jailed for two years.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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Daily Mirror
39 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Nigel Farage under pressure to distance himself from 'racist' Ant Middleton rant
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Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Left-wing 'anti-racism' activists clash with police and anti-migrant activists as migrant hotel protests rock London's rich postcodes - as 'asylum seekers' laugh, film and wave
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Counter-protesters also gathered outside the scene - and in one clip appeared to be escorted away from the hotel by police as protesters followed behind. Furious hotel guests have left damning reviews online, claiming they were told their stays were 'cancelled'. One wrote: 'My confirmed reservation was cancelled less than 24 hours before my stay via a brief phone call, citing a 'private hire' event.' Another said: 'Completely unprofessional company. Hotel cancelled my booking at last minute because they had a bulk booking.' 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Protests have broken out across the country this summer, with more than 150 gathering outside The Park Hotel, in Diss, Norfolk last week after the Home Office announced plans to change it from housing asylum-seeker families to single men. Trouble first broke out in Epping two weeks ago after Ethiopian asylum seeker Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in the town by attempting to kiss her. He denies the charges. The protest started peacefully, but descended into frenzied violence when anti-migrant demonstrators clashed with counter protesters and police. A police officer sits in a car outside the entrance of the Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf A police cordon and fencing is placed outside the Britannia International Hotel this morning A person waves an English flag from a car as it passes the Britannia International Hotel in Canary Wharf One placard brought by a group of protesters said: 'This is a peaceful protest to protect our own.' Amid warnings 'discontent is real' in Britain, Met Police officers were called to the Britannia International Hotel, on Marsh Wall, Canary Wharf Furious hotel guests have left damning reviews online, claiming they were told their stays were 'cancelled' Police officers gather in front of counter-protesters outside the Canary Wharf hotel Essex Police has faced major questions after footage emerged of officers escorting pro-migrant activists to the hotel - despite the force initially denying this has happened. 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The National
14 hours ago
- The National
Scotland's child protection system described as 'racially biased'
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In some cases support organisations had worked on, they claim parents did not know that smacking was illegal, or had different attitudes to leaving children alone, but had their children taken into care without the opportunity to modify their parenting. READ MORE: Police remove pro-Palestine protesters from John Swinney's Edinburgh Fringe show In others, the hostile immigration system was impacting parental mental health, according to the Scottish Refugee Council and Glasgow-based Women's Integration Network, but this was not understood by social workers and appropriate support was not offered. Scottish policy dictates that children and parents should get the support they need to stay together, as long as it is considered safe for them to do so. Most recent Scottish social work statistics record 828 Black and ethnic minority children as being in care as of July 31, 2024. But there are a further 1297 – 11% of those in care – where no ethnicity was recorded. In England, it is a legal requirement to record ethnicity but in Scotland, it is not. The Ferret has been investigating claims that there are systemic issues with the child protection system in terms of racial and cultural issues for migrant families as part of a cross-border investigation with Scottish-based Migrant Women Press, as well as journalists in Romania and Italy. Today, both Scottish publications ran the story of Nina, a mother originally from Southeast Africa, who had five children taken into care. We have changed her name to protect the identities of her children. Following more than two months in immigration detention when her asylum claim was refused, concerns were raised about her mental wellbeing, leading to two of her children being taken into care under a voluntary agreement. Two further children and her new baby were later taken into care following historic concerns about her parenting. 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They went on to be permanently fostered, which meant Nina lost her parental rights. The fostered daughter has constantly refused to have contact with her mother. Her fostered son took his own life as a young teen while in permanent foster care, where he had been for many years. Previous work by The Ferret has found that since 2021, 11 young people in the care system have completed suicide, the most common cause of death in this group. Nina and her lawyer are calling for a Fatal Accident Inquiry so that her questions about the circumstances of his death can be answered. The Crown Office confirmed that it is still investigating and no decision will be taken until that concludes. But Nina claims social work discriminated against her. She said: 'Once my life was a normal life. They took my kids. And now I am sitting here and my son is dead. I feel like he was kidnapped by social services, like there is no accountability. What went wrong? What was happening that nobody could see? Those are the questions I want answered.' The Ferret and Migrant Women Press tried to get figures for the number of migrant children taken into care in Scotland over the last five years. Only nine local authorities provided figures, with six claiming no children had been taken into care. West Lothian's figures were the highest provided with a total of 42 migrant children taken into care over five years, including 12 children from Nigeria, eight from Poland and eight from Romania and Slovakia. Two were taken into care at birth. Though some cases were 'ongoing', none of those children had been adopted. Five councils, including Edinburgh, refused to give details due to the small number of children involved, which they argued could identify them. But 11 out of the 32 local authorities – more than a third – said they were unable to provide the information without looking through individual files, or did not record data on whether children taken into care had migrant parents or not. 'While information on nationality and ethnicity may be provided on a voluntary basis, where this is the case, it is often only contained in observational notes and may not be provided at all,' admitted Glasgow City Council, one of the authorities which did not hold figures. Concerns about the disproportionate intervention of social work in Black families are long-running and widespread. In 2021, the BBC reported on the case of a Nigerian victim of trafficking, living in an Italian migrant shelter, who was threatened with having her son taken into care. Those running the shelter were apparently concerned by her so-called 'African' ways of bringing up her son, which included carrying him on her back and encouraging him to eat by putting food in his mouth. The 2023 Indian film Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway documented the real-life story of Anurup Bhattacharya and Sagarika Chakraborty, an Indian immigrant couple whose children were taken away by Norwegian authorities in 2011. Other cases have been documented in Germany and Sweden. Conversely, concerns have previously been raised that fears of being perceived as racist have stopped social workers stepping in to prevent abuse. The murder of eight-year-old Victoria Climbié (below) from the Ivory Coast 25 years ago, by her great aunt and her boyfriend, is said to be instrumental in current social work practice. But some claim that case has led to prejudice. Helene Rodger, project director and co-founder of Passion4Fusion, said: 'A lot of the families we support come to the attention of social services due to physical chastisement'. She doesn't excuse it, but said this needs to be seen in context especially for new Scots. 'In a lot of African countries, it is quite normal for it to be used as a form of discipline not harm,' Rodger added. 'We were parented like that. In Scotland, it's only been illegal since 2020. Often it's teachers or neighbours who contact social services.' She claimed migrants should be given clearer information so they know it is against the law to smack their children, with social workers trained to better understand the different cultural contexts. Black social workers and foster carers should be recruited, she claimed. As part of its report, They Took My Child Too – launched at the Scottish Parliament in May – Passion4Fusion surveyed more than 100 parents, community members and professionals with experience of the social work system. Almost three-quarters believed that there was a 'culture gap' for families and social work, while 93% 'agreed or strongly agreed' that more culturally sensitive child protection services would improve the welfare of Black and brown children. Esther Muchena, manager of Scottish Refugee Council's Family Rights Service, said involvement with child protection has sometimes been caused by different cultural norms where parents might leave a child at home alone, unaware of the laws. 'That is the type of behaviour that can be corrected,' Muchena said. 'In our experience working with women accessing our services, the issues are never about the woman not being capable enough. The root issue in our cases is usually because of the pressures of navigating a complex asylum process, which can cause poor parental mental health. Women in this position have to fight to survive while keeping their families together.' Victoria Nyanga-Ndiaye, founder of Project Esperanza, shares that view. The Edinburgh-based charity is currently working with over 40 migrant families with child protection involvement, though not all of them have children in care. The majority of the families she is supporting have come to the attention of social work as a result of perceptions of neglect, she said. She supports international students struggling to balance study with work and childcare, along with families with no recourse to public funds, due to their immigration status, who are struggling to cope. But the social workers, who should be there to help, often simply do not understand the cultural issues, are misinformed, under-trained and under-resourced to best help these families, Nyanga-Ndiaye said. 'I think the system is actually designed that way,' she added. 'It's designed for hardship.' A Scottish Government spokesperson said:'[[Scottish Government]] guidance on child protection in Scotland makes clear that cultural respect and understanding must be consistently applied in all child care and protection practices. 'The guidance sets out that professionals should learn about the culture or faith of the child and family and seek advice if necessary. They should also be culturally sensitive while keeping focus on the child's experience and potential harm.'
