“I’m tired now” – One of Britain’s biggest drug smugglers guilty over international cocaine trafficking plot

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

One of Great Britain’s biggest drug smugglers last week admitted his part in a large-scale international cocaine trafficking plot. 36-year-old Michael Paul Moogan, from Croxteth, Liverpool, went on the run in October 2013 and remained a fugitive for 8 years.

Moogan went into hiding after a raid on a Dutch cafe suspected of being a front for meetings between drug traffickers and cartels. The café, Café de Ketel in the city of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, was a business not open to the public. It could only be entered via a security system and was strictly for known faces.

Hundreds of kilos of cocaine a month

Once inside, mountains of cocaine were just a call away. Moogan and his associates were involved in plans to import hundreds of kilos of cocaine from Latin America to Europe every month.

He had the ability to obtain as much as €500,000 euros at a time to fund his cocaine deals from South American suppliers who would ship the coke to Belgium. He did not need to pay for deals in instalments as is common in large scale drugs supply. Instead, he could pay in lump sums via Iraqi nationals based in the United Kingdom.

Moogan told criminal contacts that he brought cocaine into Britain concealed in meat from Argentina. Evidence also showed he had the ability to bribe port officials to help ensure his drugs were not stopped.

As well as shipping from South America, Moogan used road transport networks stretching from Bulgaria to Latvia, Spain and Belgium to facilitate the movement of cocaine to the United Kingdom.

Moogan worked with  71-year-old Robert Hamilton, from Hale, Greater Manchester, and 57-year-old Robert Gerard, from Liverpool. Gerard is the second cousin of star football player Steven Gerard. He handed himself in to police after spending 3 years on the run. He claimed the pressure was too much. He pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges and was jailed in 2017 for 14 years.

Hamilton was arrested during the raid on Café de Ketel and imprisoned for 8 years in 2014 after pleading guilty to drug charges.

False identities in Dubai

Moogan remained in hiding until April last year when he was arrested by police in Dubai. He was using numerous false identities to avoid capture. Dubai Police believe that after entering the United Arab Emirates using a different identity, he tried to avoid CCTV in an attempt to elude detectives who used their latest capabilities to track him down.

He had a German passport, and also a driver’s license and citizen card in the name of Michael Dier but displaying his own image.

After being extradited to the United Kingdom, Moogan told the arresting officer: “You’re not going to have any trouble from me. I’m tired now. Get me up to Manny and get me in Cat A. I’m done now.”

Moogan was transported to police custody in Greater Manchester and on November 4 admitted conspiring to import Class A drugs. He will return to court to be sentenced at a date to be fixed.

“Moogan was a major figure in international drug dealing”

“Moogan’s long overdue conviction is the result of years of investigation by the NCA and law enforcement partners in the UK, Europe and Middle East,” NCA Senior Investigating Officer Ben Rutter said. “We are particularly thankful to the Dubai Police for their hard work in tracking Moogan down and ensuring his return to the UK where he has admitted his guilt. Moogan was a major figure in international drug dealing.”

Moogan was the 86th person arrested under Operation Captura – an National Crime Agency (NCA) fugitive campaign run in conjunction with Crimestoppers.

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