PARIS: A Briton accused of being one of Europe’s biggest drug traffickers was jailed for 22 years on Friday for smuggling over a ton of cocaine into France in suitcases stashed on an Air France flight.
The court said Robert Dawes, 46, would have to serve at least 15 years with no possibility of parole over the brazen 2013 drugs shipment from Venezuela to Paris.
Dawes, who had denied the charges, was arrested at his luxury villa on the Spanish Costa del Sol in 2015 following a lengthy investigation by authorities in Britain, France, Spain and South America.
“I continue to claim my innocence,” he said Friday morning in his final statement to the special non-jury court.
The case was tried by five judges who ordered Dawes and four accomplices — three Italians and one Briton — to pay a 30-million-euro ($34.2 million) fine.
“Far from a small-time fall guy, today we are judging men in the highest ranks of organized crime who supplied European networks,” prosecutor Isabelle Raynaud told the court during the week.
Hailing the verdict, the deputy director of Britain’s National Crime Agency, Matt Horne, describe Dawes as “one of the most significant organized criminals in Europe with a network that literally spanned the globe.”
“Dawes was prepared to use extreme levels of violence in order to further his reputation and take retribution against those who crossed him. Members or associates of his criminal group are known to have been involved in intimidation, shootings and murders,” Horne added in a statement.
The noose tightened on Dawes after Spanish police secured a video showing him bragging to a member of a Colombian drugs cartel about his ownership of the cocaine found stuffed in 30 suitcases registered to ghost travelers.
Spain extradited him to France shortly after his arrest.
Dawes had hoped to get the video dismissed on legal grounds, but a document submitted by his defense team in support of that claim turned out to be a forgery.
Dawes himself then surprised the court — and evidently his lawyers — by saying his claims in the video were “just a made-up story” intended to provoke the police into arresting him so that he could prove his innocence.
The court also passed jail terms ranging from five to 13 years on four accomplices: Britain’s Nathan Wheat, and Vincenzo Aprea, Carmine Russo and Marco Panetta of Italy.
The four were arrested after undercover officers tricked them into trying to transport some of the cocaine to Italy shortly after its arrival at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport in September 2013.
A sixth defendant, Britain’s Kane Price, was acquitted.
At the time of his arrest, Spanish police said Dawes “headed up the biggest criminal organization in Britain and Europe devoted to drug trafficking, money laundering and murder.”
He was suspected of buying large amounts of drugs from Italy’s ‘Ndrangheta mafia, which is thought to run much of Europe’s cocaine trade from Calabria.
His empire allegedly stretched from Portugal, France and Belgium to Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Venezuela and Mexico.
Dawes maintained that he and his family made their money from a variety of businesses in Spain, including furniture and window manufacturing, management consulting and property investments.
The cocaine found on the Air France flight from Caracas had a street value of some 240 million euros ($275 million).
The discovery caused a stir in Venezuela where the interior minister admitted the suitcases had gone through security scanners that had clearly showed the presence of drugs.
Venezuelan police arrested 25 people, including members of the military and an Air France manager.
British drugs kingpin gets 22 years jail in France for cocaine trafficking
British drugs kingpin gets 22 years jail in France for cocaine trafficking
- Dawes maintained that he and his family made their money from a variety of businesses in Spain
- The cocaine found on the Air France flight from Caracas had a street value of some 240 million euros ($275 million)
US and Ukraine ‘a lot closer’ on peace deal, Trump says after meeting with Zelensky
- Zelensky sees agreement on security guarantees for Ukraine
- Hurdles to a comprehensive peace deal remain
- Trump spoke with Putin ahead of meeting on Sunday
PALM BEACH, Florida: US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were “getting a lot closer, maybe very close” to an agreement to end the war in Ukraine, though both leaders acknowledged that some of the thorniest details remain unresolved.
The two leaders spoke at a joint press conference late Sunday afternoon after meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Trump said it will be clear “in a few weeks” whether negotiations to end the war will succeed.
Zelensky said an agreement on security guarantees for Ukraine has been reached. Trump was slightly more cautious, saying that they were 95 percent of the way to such an agreement, and that he expected European countries to “take over a big part” of that effort with US backing.
Zelensky has said previously that he hopes to soften a US proposal for Ukrainian forces to withdraw completely from the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, a Russian demand that would mean ceding some territory held by Ukrainian forces.
Both Trump and Zelensky said on Sunday the future of the Donbas had not been settled. “It’s unresolved, but it’s getting a lot closer. That’s a very tough issue,” Trump said.
Just before Zelensky and his delegation arrived at Trump’s Florida residence, Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke in a call described as “productive” by the US president and “friendly” by Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov.
Ushakov, in Moscow, said Putin told Trump a 60-day ceasefire proposed by the European Union and Ukraine would prolong the war. The Kremlin aide also said Ukraine needs to make a decision regarding the Donbas “without further delay.” And he said the Russian government had agreed to establish working groups to resolve the conflict that will focus on economic and security concerns.
Meeting follows Russian attacks on Kyiv
Zelensky arrived at Mar-a-Lago early Sunday afternoon, as Russian air raids pile pressure on Kyiv. Russia hit the capital and other parts of Ukraine with hundreds of missiles and drones on Saturday, knocking out power and heat in parts of Kyiv. Zelensky has described the weekend attacks as Russia’s response to the US-brokered peace efforts, but Trump on Sunday said he believes Putin and Zelensky are serious about peace.
The US president said he will call Putin again after meeting with Zelensky. Zelensky had previously told journalists he plans to discuss the fate of the contested Donbas region with Trump, as well as the future of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and other topics.
Russia claims more battlefield advances
Putin said on Saturday Moscow would continue waging its war if Kyiv did not seek a quick peace. Russia has steadily advanced on the battlefield in recent months, claiming control over several more settlements on Sunday.
While Kyiv and Washington have agreed on many issues, the issue of what territory, if any, will be ceded to Russia remains unresolved. While Moscow insists on getting all of the Donbas, Kyiv wants the map frozen at current battle lines.
The US, seeking a compromise, has proposed a free economic zone if Ukraine leaves the area, although it remains unclear how that zone would function in practical terms.
US negotiators have also proposed shared control over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Power line repairs have begun there after another local ceasefire brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the agency said on Sunday.
Russia controls all of Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, and since its invasion of Ukraine nearly four years ago has taken control of about 12 percent of its territory, including about 90 percent of the Donbas, 75 percent of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, and slivers of the Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, according to Russian estimates.
Putin said on December 19 that a peace deal should be based on conditions he set out in 2024: Ukraine withdrawing from all of the Donbas, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, and Kyiv officially renouncing its aim to join NATO. Zelensky’s past encounters with Trump have not always gone smoothly, but Sunday’s meeting follows weeks of diplomatic efforts. European allies, while at times cut out of the loop, have stepped up efforts to sketch out the contours of a post-war security guarantee for Kyiv that the United States would support.
On Sunday, ahead of the Mar-a-Lago visit, Zelensky said he held a detailed phone call with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Trump and Zelensky will hold a phone call with European leaders at some point during the Florida meeting, Trump said. The 20-point plan was spun off from a Russian-led 28-point plan, which emerged from talks between US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev, and which became public in November.
Subsequent talks between Ukrainian officials and US negotiators have produced the more Kyiv-friendly 20-point plan.
