Two brothers have been sentenced to prison for trying to bypass restrictions on importing cocaine.
Metropolitan Police officers disrupted their scheme to bring dangerous drugs into London.
Specialist Met officers have spent three years dismantling a major drug trafficking network, gathering extensive CCTV footage and analysing encrypted software that criminals used to coordinate drug importation.
The investigation revealed that the organised group made 19 importations between May 2020 and August 2020, with a street value of £8.8 million.
As a result, 12 people have been sentenced. Ten of these men have been sentenced at earlier dates, with the final two sentenced on Friday at Kingston Crown Court.
Jonathan Lynn (41) of Heathcote Road, Epsom (pictured below) was sentenced to 18 years and 8 months’ imprisonment.
Nicholas Lynn (35) of Gildenhill Road, Swanley and Temple Denny Road, Falkirk (pictured below), was sentenced to 15 years and 3 months.
Extraordinary work
Detective inspector Lydia Stephens said: “This investigation is a powerful example of the extraordinary work undertaken by the Met’s highly skilled and dedicated detectives in order to identify, apprehend and prosecute organised criminals.
“We are committed to identifying and dismantling entire networks from the top down to stop the scourge of drug dealing and the associated crimes which impact our communities here in London.
“These vast quantities of cocaine were bound for our communities and I’m pleased we’ve taken them off the streets. Drugs and violence come hand in hand and we will continue to seek out perpetrators who wish to jeopardise the safety of Londoners. ”
Detective constable Leon Ure, who worked on the case, said: “The success of this case is down to a massive team effort across the Met, involving multiple units and officers coming together to help make sure this pipeline of Class A drugs to London was dismantled.
“Without everyone’s diligence, utmost professionalism and commitment to the job, we wouldn’t have been able to see such significant sentencings. We remain completely committed to keeping Londoners safe and removing dangerous criminals from the streets.”
Officers worked relentlessly to gather evidence to prove the Lynn brothers’ involvement. Officers were able to piece together hundreds of hours of CCTV from Thurrock services to prove this was a meeting spot used by the criminal gang to handover large amounts of drugs destined for London.
Officers were able to analyse communications on Encrochat, historically used by criminal gangs to communicate in an encrypted system, through usernames used by the Lynn brothers. This showed their involvement in arranging the transport of Class A drugs from Lithuania to be driven into the UK on HGV lorries. The team then made use of a drug expert witness to show the Lynn brothers’ leadership role through further data analysis of communications between accomplices.
Thanks to help from European authorities, Jonathan Lynn was arrested in Fuengirola, Spain after a warrant was issued for his arrest in November 2022. Nicholas Lynn was arrested previously in Kent in February 2021.
