Drug traffickers nabbed after sending photo of pet French Bulldog ordered to pay $1.4 million
A drug dealer whose French bulldog photo brought down an entire organized crime ring has been ordered to pay more than $1.4 million, Britain’s National Crime Agency said.
Stefan Baldauf, 64, and Philip Lawson, 63, were drug dealers who were charged with other members of the gang in Operation Venice in 2020 for smuggling drugs from the UK to Australia. And was arrested. The traffickers transported 448 kilograms Amphetamine The arm of an excavator in Australia is worth about $46 million.
Traffickers even rig auctions to ensure amphetamines fall into the right hands. The drugs, which investigators described as ecstasy, were first stored in heavy equipment at an industrial unit in Grays, Essex, before being shipped to Australia. The National Crime Agency said it took almost three months for them to arrive in Brisbane.
However, the ruse fell apart when drug dealer Danny Brown sent Baldauf a photo of his French bulldog Bob.
national crime agency
Investigators were able to use the photo – which had his partner’s phone number on the tag – and other methods to find and disrupt this organized crime group.
Chris Hill, who led the NCA investigation, said: “These criminals have no concern for the suffering and exploitation that the illegal drug supply causes communities in the UK and Australia.”
Britain’s National Crime Agency said Baldolph, Brown, Lawson and four other British men were sentenced to 163 years in prison. Other members will face forfeiture hearings later this year.
