1. NEWS Wednesday,October23,2013Wednesday,October23,20134 NEWS 5★★★★ ★★★★
WARREN’S
WORLDWIDEWEB
KEY to Jersey’s claim
that Curtis Warren
has made millions
from international
drug running are two
massive shipments of
cocaine from
Venezuela.
In October, 1991, a
shipment arrived at
Felixstowe containing
an importation of 85
tonnes of lead in
ingots – concealed
within was £70m of
cocaine. Customs
drilled a hole in
several of the lead
barrels, just to make
sure they were solid
but after finding
nothing they waved
the shipment
through the port and
out on to the
motorway.
The shipment had
been arranged by
Manchester-based
businessman, Joseph
Kassar, described in
court as “Warren’s
front man”.
Also involved was
“middleman” Mario
Halley, the European
agent for the
infamous Columbian
cocaine lords, the
Cali Cartel, and
international
drug dealer
Brian
Charrington.
But Char-
rington was
also a reg-
istered
police in-
formant who
tipped off
the cops in
order to
keep his own hands
clean. The conspiracy
was blown open
when Charrington
revealed that a
second order of
£150m Venezuelan
cocaine had been
dispatched.
However Howard
Sharp, QC,
prosecuting,
explained the case
against Charrington
and Warren later
collapsed in court.
In October, 1996, a
container holding
307kg of cocaine
hidden inside ingots
was unloaded in
Rotterdam with a
final destination of
Bulgaria.
Prosecutors claim
Warren set up a
company with two
henchmen to order
the ingots from
South America,
knowing full well
what was concealed
inside. He spent 10
years in a tough
Dutch prison after
Customs officials
uncovered the haul.
Mr Sharp said
there was evidence
of three other drugs
importations
orchestrated by
Warren.
GANGSTER’SGLOBALNETWORKOFDEALERS
Former bouncer could face another 10 years behind bars +++ Drugsbaronsofamoushewasknownas‘CalvinKlein’
by JOHN SIDDLE
Crime Reporter,
at the Royal Court, Jersey
is that he is good at concealing
ownership.” He added: “The stark fact
is that Warren had ways of laundering
his assets in ways that are simply
untraceable.”
The prosecution opened their case
against Warren by playing covert
recordings obtained in a Dutch prison
in 2004 with a drug dealing contact.
The former Interpol target one was
discussing a money launderer who
gave him a cheap 1% commission.
On the tape, Warren suggests that he
would "sometimes" launder £10m-£15m
in cash in a week. Mr Sharp claimed
that admission showed the scale of
drugs money passing through
Warren.
He told the court: "The prosecution
case is that Warren used the 1%
laundering service on at least 10
occasions. That is to say Warren
laundered £10m on 10 occasions from
1991 to 1996.
"Allowing for RPI (retail price
index) as of autumn 2013, that figure is
adjusted to £178.78m.
"The Crown's case is that the TEB
(the bureau de change allegedly used
by Warren and his gang) provides a
further benefit of £11.7m, adjusted for
RPI to £19.73m.
"The total benefit is £198.51m."
Warren must prove that he does not
have the means to pay any confiscation
order on the balance of probabilities.
The hearing, held under tight
security on the island's capital St
Helier, could take three weeks to
complete.
be forthcoming during this hearing
remains to be seen.”
The Attorney General said there
were three key questions for the court
to consider: had Warren benefited from
drug trafficking, what was the value of
that benefit and how much could now
be recouped.
Mr Sharp said: “Warren obviously
made huge profits and we respectfully
suggest that an explanation for the
whereabouts of those funds is called
for.”
The Jersey investigators’ case
against Warren is partly based on
Dutch intercepts of four months of
phone calls involving Warren in the
Netherlands after he moved from
Liverpool in the mid-1990s.
They believe there is clear evidence
contained in the transcripts of those
calls that Warren has concealed his
drugs fortune in a variety of
investments.
Mr Sharp recited covert sur-
veillance where Warren told a woman
how his money and investments were
“safe” in the event of his arrest. He also
told how the crook had bought a string
of properties in Turkey in1996 –
properties which have never been
traced by authorities.
They were said to include a petrol
station which Warren was anticipating
making £20,000 a month from.
The court also heard surveillance
suggesting that Warren was implicated
in a £4m gold mining venture in
Guyana which would return “big
money” and conversations
surrounding a Dutch pallet business
where Warren wanted paying into a
Swiss bank account.
Mr Sharp said: “Warren was not
burning his cash as his went along. He
wanted a return on what he had
earned. One of the reasons why
Warren’s assets have remained hidden
go to launder drugs cash into Deutsch
Marks, Dutch guilders and Swiss
francs.
Warren, who has been in prison for
17 years for convictions in Holland and
Jersey – save for a five-week period
between the two – claims he is
penniless and that allegations of
hidden fortunes are “ridiculous“.
But Mr Sharp told the six jurats –
judges of fact who will determine the
case: “When you take a step back and
look at this case overall, we will be
considering incredibly large chunks of
cash that are crying out for an
explanation as to their current
whereabouts.
“Whether a relevant and sub-
stantive explanation from Warren will
THE alleged £200m drugs fortune of
city arch-criminal Curtis Warren is
tied up in a murky web of untraceable
assets across the globe, a court was
told.
Swiss bank accounts, a Turkish
property venture and even a gold
mining venture in Africa could be
among the ways the international
crimelord has concealed his vast
trafficking wealth.
Gangster Warren, 50, yesterday
appeared in Jersey's Royal
Court – on the island where
he was convicted of a £1m
cannabis smuggle in 2007 –
where state authorities
want to confiscate his
ill-gotten drugs profits.
They reckon “Cocky”,
as he is nicknamed, has
made as much as £198m
through a “staggering”
drug dealing network
stretching to every corner
of the globe.
The Toxteth-born former bouncer
could face another 10 years behind bars
if the court finds there is cash to be
coughed up and he fails to hand it over.
But win the case and Warren could be
on his way back to Liverpool as soon as
January next year.
Jersey’s attorney general, Howard
Sharp, QC, yesterday told how one
underworld contact referred to the
drugs baron as “Calvin Klein” because
his name was so famous.
In an astonishing 38-page opening to
the three-week trial, Mr Sharp
claimed:
● Warren is “truly prolific” – he can
source cocaine from South America,
heroin from Turkey and Iran, and
cannabis from Morocco.
● His markets are “diverse” and
include Liverpool, Brazil, Moscow,
Swaziland and Australia.
● Warren boasted while behind bars
in Holland of laundering up to £15m
cash each week, obtained from
worldwide drug trafficking.
● Dutch financial investigators in
1996 estimated Warren made a drugs
profit of £12m in a three-month period,
but those figures failed to take into
account multi-million pound heroin
and cannabis jobs, or cocaine
trafficking.
● And the same investigation did not
consider alleged overseas trade,
including deals to sell 3,000 “bath
interiors” to Moscow and “railways” to
South Africa. Mr Sharp said: “We are
not suggesting for a moment they
[Warren’s gang] were selling bathroom
suites.”
● Warren was behind 35,000 calls
while on remand in prison over the
Jersey smuggle to contacts across the
world.
Jersey investigators put forward the
£198m figure allowing for inflation.
They are pointing to Warren's in-
volvement in well-known cocaine
importation plots from Venezuela in
1991– where 500kg were imported to
Felixstowe – and 1996 – where 307kg of
the Class A drug was shipped to
Holland, concealed in lead ingots.
That plot led to a 10-year sentence in
the Netherlands.
And the incredible sum also in-
cludes £11.7m, adjusted to £19.73m with
inflation, said to have passed through a
bureau de change in London where it
was claimed Warren’s cronies would
COCAINE
SHIPMENTS
KEY
Countries contacted
by prison telephones
attributed to Warren
Additional countries
where a telephone
number was linked
with Warren’s
address book
CONVICTED: Warren
arriving for his trial in
Jersey in 2009
£200M
CRIMELORD Curtis
Warren made and
received 34,000 calls and
texts to countries around
the world while in prison
in Jersey awaiting trial,
prosecutors claimed.
The 50-year-old
allegedly used seven illicit
mobile phones in Jersey’s
tough La Moye prison
while on remand ahead of
a £1m cannabis smuggle
trial in 2009.
Jersey authorities said
the web of com-
munication was direct
evidence of Warren
“trading from prison”.
Attorney General,
Howard Sharp, QC,
produced an A3 map to
the court marking in blue
the countries involved in
calls to and from the
seven phones and in green
the locations of people
stored in the contacts
book.
Mr Sharp said: “Almost
all the contact was routed
though the mast at HMP
La Moye. You can see
whoever was using those
phones was calling people
in the north west of
England, particularly
Liverpool and Manchester.
“We can see that there
was contact to telephone
kiosks in the Liverpool
area.”
The court heard how
contact was made with
people in countries with
“significant” links to drug
dealing. Outlining some of
the countries involved in
the calls, Mr Sharp said:
“Iran has well-known links
to heroin. Morocco is a
source of cannabis. Note
the calls to South and
Central America, a source
for cocaine. Ghana is
well-known for
distributing cocaine into
Europe. Thailand for
heroin to Australia.
Swaziland also received a
call or two from these
telephones.”
He added: “The map
tells its own story. Warren
is an international drug
dealer.
“He had contacts and
influence in every corner
of the globe.”
WEALTH: Curtis
Warren could face
another 10 years
behind bars if the
court finds there is
cash to be coughed
up and he fails to
hand it over
GUARD: Armed
police at the
ready as Warren
arrives at the
Magistrates Court
in Jersey, right
HIDDEN:
Cocaine in
lead ingot
Lung Disease?
Are you suffering illness or lung problems because
of the ignorance or fault of your employer?
Michael Lewin Solicitors Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority SRA No. 512897
COMPENSATION
Typical Award
from £15,000
to £100,000
Call us free on
0800 230 0003
Our lines are open 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week
Or text ‘INFO LC’ to 80010
www.michaellewin.co.uk
MichaelLewinS O L I C I T O R S
NO WIN NO FEE
Even if you don’t work there
anymore or the business has since
closed, you can still make a claim
WOrkPLACE ExAMPLES:
• Animal Feeds • Abattoir • Bakery • Cemetery
• Chemical Processing • Cobalt • Chrome • Fettling
• Fibre Glass • Flour Mill • Food Processing • Foundry
• Furnace • HVAC • Laboratory • Latex • Medical Treatment
• Metal Work • Mine • Quarry • Rockwell • Saw Mill
• Sand Blasting • Ship Repair • Zinc