Canning Town man jailed for his part in cocaine smuggling

Pat Coughtrey , News Editor Wednesday, July 4, 2012
5:00 PM

A mechanic who used his job in a motorbike workshop to receive shipments of cocaine hidden in spare parts has been jailed for five-and-a-half years.

Hudson De Oliveria, 32, of Crediton Road, Canning Town, imported more than half a kilo of the drug from his native Brazil by arranging for it to be secreted in the machinery as a fine white paste.

Police launched an undercover sting operation after an inspector became suspicious when the package was put through an X-Ray machine at a Parcelforce depot in Coventry on February 1.

“As a result of the concerns raised in the X-ray, the parts, or one of the parts, was drilled and the drill was pulled out,” prosecutor Neil Sandys told Snaresbrook Crown Court.

“A white paste was seen within the motorcycle parts themselves.”

The white paste contained 689g of cocaine at 68 per cent purity. Police let the package be delivered replacing the drugs with other objects. Six days later, an undercover police officer, posing as a courier named Barry went to an address in Vine Court, Whitechapel, while other officers waited outside.

The court heard De Oliveria signed for the product and said his name was Hudson Divino Alves De Oliveria. Barry gave a description of the person who he had provided the parcel to and undercover officers went in and arrest him.

In a taped interview, De Oliveria continued to maintain that his name was Giovani Constantino and did not admit his true identity until he appeared in crown court, jurors heard. He denied one count of dealing with goods with fraudulent intent, but a jury found him guilty on June 15. Judge Neil Sanders jailed him for five years. De Oliveria was jailed for a further six months for escaping from lawful custody.

On February 18, while he in custody awaiting trial for the drugs offence, he climbed onto the roof of Brixton prison before leaping onto a nearby building. He broke his heel and ankle landing.