Drugs gang transport £3m of cocaine across UK in tubs of moisturiser

A DRUGS gang trafficked at least £3million of cocaine across the UK — in tubs of moisturiser.

Messages on WhatsApp show courier Pasquelino Mazzuca, 53, took deliveries off boats for dealer Alexander Hepworth, 30.

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Alexander Hepworth, 30 of Helmshore, Lancs, was jailed for 16 years and nine months[/caption]

GMP

Courier Pasquelino Mazzuca, 53, took deliveries of the cocaine off boats[/caption]

Some 30kg of cocaine was picked up at Plymouth, Devon, and Harwich, Essex, disguised as E45 cream, Manchester’s Minshull Street crown court heard.

Both men admitted supply charges and possession of a firearm.

Hepworth, of Helmshore, Lancs, was jailed for 16 years and nine months and Mazzuca, of Ramsbottom, got 11 years and two months.

Judge Sophie McKone told them: “When you become involved in this level of drug dealing it has to attract very lengthy custodial sentences.”

Prosecutor Wayne Jackson said Mazzuca’s work as courier for Hepworth was uncovered after police raided Mazzuca’s premises and found over 2,000 ecstasy tablets.

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The men were jailed at Manchester’s Minshull Street crown court[/caption]

He said officers raided a unit at Chesham Industrial Estate in Bury in July 2019.

They found 2,132 ecstasy tablets worth around £20,000 on the premises with Mazzuca’s fingerprints on the bags.

The probe into the pair followed an operation in Bury, Gtr Manchester, that saw 18 crooks jailed last year for 140 years.