Ten members of two organized crime outfits operating in the United Kingdom have been sentenced by the crown court to serve more than 100 years in prison for their participation in a scheme that involved smuggling cocaine from Costa Rica to the Portsmouth Docks in the southern coast of England. Due to the logistics of the thwarted operation, this smuggling group was often referred to as the “pineapple cocaine gang.”

 

Although this smuggling operation dates back to 2010, full details are being released now that the final member has been ordered to serve a prison term of eight and a half years. According to a recent news report published by The Guardian, the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) had recruited a dock worker to assist them in unloading several kilos of cocaine hydrochloride in powder form. Unbeknownst to the two gangs, NCA officers and technicians had a few of their meetings under surveillance.

 

A major part of the smuggling operation involved using pineapples to conceal the cocaine shipments. The cargo ships invariably sailed from the Caribbean Port of Moin in Limon. In mid-2012, The Costa Rica Star reported on a smuggling operation intercepted by UK police:

 

Police swooped to arrest Frederick Colverson at a Brandon industrial estate last October after receiving a tip-off, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

 

David Holborn, prosecuting, said officers found 175kg of cocaine inside Pineapple boxes imported from Costa Rica, valued at $53,000,000.

 

England is not the only destination for these pineapple cocaine shipments originating from Costa Rica. In November 2013, online news daily Costa Rica Hoy reported on the discovery by Dutch police in Rotterdam of 100 bricks of cocaine loaded into metal containers filled with pineapple juice. In that case, however, a new lead was discovered as the ship did not sail straight to the Netherlands; it docked in the Dominican Republic before crossing the Atlantic.