Drug dealer's years on run ended when police found him drunk in the street

'HUYTON FIRM' BOSS USED UPS NETWORK TO DELIVER PACKAGES OF DRUGS INTO UK FROM EUROPE

- By PATRICK EDRICH

Christopher Gibney

'HUYTON Firm' boss and co-leader Francis Coggins was caught after Dutch police found him drunk in the street and learnt his identity.

The 60-year-old had been in the coastal town of Zandvoort in the Netherlands, where he met, negotiated and bought class A drugs at source with international suppliers before shipping them into the UK using an elaborate and sophisticated scheme which took advantage of the UPS network.

He remained on the run for five years after his younger brother Vincent, 59, who focused on the gang's domestic operation, supplying cocaine and heroin across England, Wales and Scotland, was arrested and jailed in 2020. But Liverpool Crown Court heard yesterday that Francis Coggins was eventually caught after he was arrested for being drunk and disorderly by the Dutch National Police in the Netherlands.

A source close to the case said he was “collapsed” in the street. And the National Crime Agency (NCA), who assisted investigators from the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU), the force pursuing the wanted man on a trade and cooperation agreement warrant, said he was arrested outside a residential property.

He made his first appearance at a court in Amsterdam to begin the process of extradition to the UK on June 4. He was brought back to the UK in late August after consenting to extradition, and in September pleaded guilty to a series of drugs charges.