Drug gang boss jailed

Kingpin gets 23 years over cruise ship cocaine smuggling conspiracy

- PAUL BRITTON

A DRUG dealer from Greater Manchester who police said 'ran an organised crime group' has been jailed for 23 years after two multi-million pound cocaine smuggling conspiracies were smashed.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said Paul Farrell, 44, who has links to addresses in Manchester and Bolton, and Christopher Mealey, 'employed' two other men, Benn Bath and Joshua Paige, to collect cocaine from a corrupt cruise ship worker. Serbian Milos Bigovic, 22.

Bigovic hid cocaine worth £2m aboard the ship where he worked behind the bar - the Marella Discovery 2 - but was caught when he tried to offload it to Bath, 36, and Paige, 31, who were waiting in an inflatable boat under the ship's hull.

As the cruise ship was moored off the Isle of Wight, in the early hours of April 25, 2020, Bigovic dragged a holdall containing the drugs from his cabin to a portside deck, attached a rope to it and lowered the bag down.