Smuggler Of Close To A Billion Pounds Worth Of Cocaine May Lose Assets
A kingpin by the name of Johnny Kock received 25 years in prison for his cocaine pipeline capable of transporting almost £960 million worth of cocaine through Holland, Germany and Merseyside (UK). Posing as a “respectable businessman, Kock used a pond liner company to ship large amounts of high purity cocaine disguised as boxes of washing powder. Now, authorities are preparing for a Proceeds Of Crime Act (POCA) hearing, in which they will attempt to seize a good number of Kock’s assets, including a property in Portugal.
The trial is to take place next year in March, and is expected to last for four days. Prosecutor Alex Leach says that the investigation into Leach’s cocaine empire is now completed. Leach said said, “As far as Johnny Kock is concerned there are some international assets including a substantial asset in Portugal in contention and there is an underlying issue with his former wife Nina Gospodynova.”
Kock, described as “quiet, intelligent and unsuspecting,” was able to fly under law enforcement’s radar until September 2013, when one of his shipments was discovered in France. The Mirror explains:
Officers suspected Kock was responsible for importing at least £3.5m of super strength cocaine on a fortnightly (14 days) basis.
It is believed he could have been responsible for trafficking up to six kilos of the drug in 57 separate shipments at the behest of crime cartels.
Only when border agents at the Channel Tunnel entrance in France uncovered 23 kilos of cocaine – with a purity of up to 88% – in a shipment of soap powder did the net close in.
Orders were delivered to several different addresses but the end customer was always Kock’s company, Aquaries Ltd, based at Binns Road industrial estate in Old Swan.
(Sorry for the misleading headline. “Billion pounds”=billion in British currency)
Read here about the biggest seizure of cocaine and heroin ever here.
