Druglord
Page 14
15/10/92: Kaya travelled under the name of Sarkizian on Alitalia. His case contained bundles of used sterling notes.
04/11/92: Kaya flew Heathrow to Madrid with case containing £2,000 in ten-pound notes.
08/11/92: Onay was again met at Heathrow airport by the same female as 08/09/92 and they drove away in [the Vauxhall].
In mid-November, the gang were busy arranging another 90–100-kilo load – the run-up to Bulent Onay’s arrest.
11/12/92: Onay returns from Turkey after taking money out and also finalising heroin to leave Turkey. Seen leaving Heathrow airport after returning to UK. He took a bus onto the Eastern Perimeter Road and then drove [the Vauxhall] east on the A4.
18/12/92: Haase and Bennett seen with Jim Thomas [Haase’s childhood friend from Toxteth/Dingle] at immigration controls for inward coming vehicles at Dover. Haase and Bennett had been overseeing heroin coming across Channel from France.
Later, they met with Kaya and Joey the Turk in a Kentucky Fried Chicken shop in Islington for a post-importation meeting. Over the next three days, the bulk of the heroin goes to Liverpool.
21/12/92: The Turks go to Liverpool to pick up 40 kilos from Haase’s people over the next few days.
1220 The day begins shortly after midday in London when the Turks meet before heading north on the motorway. Kaya, Joey the Turk and Manuk Ocecki were seen outside [the address in north London] and Onay drove up in [the Vauxhall]. Onay and Joey had an argument in the street and then Kaya and Joey drove off in a blue Rover and Onay and Manuk Ocecki got into the Vauxhall. The Vauxhall was seen at 1550 on the M62 headed west towards Liverpool. The Rover was seen in Liverpool at 1600 with three people inside. Joey the Turk was in the rear.
24/12/92: Onay was stopped and given a speeding ticket on the M6 travelling south at 0035 and gave his name as Erdal Devrenk of [address]. Later that day, Onay was arrested at [that address] and 36 kilos of heroin were found on the premises.
But after Onay was taken out and Ergun joined up, the heroin dealing and money-washing continued.
01/02/93: Kaya checked in for Alitalia flight and his case found to contain £6,000 in twenty-pound notes.
14/02/93: Kaya detained coming into Heathrow with a false passport in the name of Simon Cohen.
28/02/93: Haase and Bennett were at the meeting at Watford Gap service station with Ergun, Kaya and an unidentified male.
12/03/93: Kaya flew to Amsterdam from Heathrow.
18/03/93: Bennett carrying a large sports bag and Ergun were seen in Black Horse Lane. They were later seen at the Boomerang Club.
19/03/93: Haase and Bennett were observed with Kaya, Ergun and Topaz in Granada outside Sunlight Street.
23/03/93: Kaya was also observed with Topaz. Haase met with Kaya, Ergun and Topaz in Black Horse Lane. Photographs were taken by Customs Officer Brown.
24/03/93: Kaya goes back to Turkey. Observed by Customs and Excise officers boarding a flight to Istanbul from Heathrow. His luggage was covertly searched and found to contain several assorted boxes which were sealed with Sellotape. From touch, Customs officers believed that the boxes contained money.
25/03/93: Croker was observed in Black Horse Lane handing over a dark green plastic carrier bag which appeared to be full to Ergun.
27/03/93: The vehicles of Haase, Croker and Ergun were all seen in Queens Drive at the same time.
29/03/93: Croker was seen in his car parked [on] Tilston Road.
30/03/93: Croker was observed with Haase and Bennett [on] Hazelhurst Avenue.
20/04/93: Croker was observed entering the Black Horse pub with a carrier bag concealed in his coat but left five minutes later without it. Ergun left the pub shortly afterwards covering something with his jacket.
23/04/93: Croker met Neil Garrett in a cemetery on Lower Lane. A few hours later, Croker was seen going into his parents’ house.
26/04/93: Croker met Kaya and Ergun in the Black Horse pub and a green bag was exchanged.
30/04/93: Croker met Ergun in the Mason’s Arms on Sunbeam Road and was observed handing over a green holdall.
12/05/93: Haase and Roy Lewis were seen in the Chelsea Hotel, London. Later, Haase met Kaya and Ergun at Euston station and gave them a blue holdall and a plastic shopping bag before boarding a train.
14/05/93: Croker observed on Black Horse Lane handing over a dark plastic bag.
The next significant event tracked by Customs was the 111 kilos brought to France on the coach and then driven by Kaya and Ergun.
15/05/93: Kaya and Ergun travelled to Turkey to plan importation. His case in name of S. Cohen on flight to Istanbul examined. Found to contain currency notes, false passports and driver’s licences. Kaya’s photo in passport with the name Tecimener.
13/07/93: After the 100-kilo load is brought over the Channel safely, Kaya and Vulcan arrived together on flight from Paris.
14/07/93: Vulcan and Kaya observed when they left address in London at Windmill Gardens [again with Ergun].
16/07/93: They all travelled to Liverpool: Kaya, Vulcan [Ergun is also present]. Haase and Bennett met Kaya, Ergun and Topaz in Liverpool and they were seen entering the Boomerang Club.
If that wasn’t enough, intelligence officers were gleaning massive amounts of info from wire taps – especially on Ergun’s mobile – and were able to pinpoint each member’s whereabouts at any particular point by triangulation of cellphone masts and radio waves. One report stated:
He [Ergun] owned a Vodaphone which had the number 0836730636. The printout for that Vodaphone has been obtained, which is highly revealing in the context of this case. Analysis shows that the user of the phone made extensive use of certain telephone facilities which help preserve the anonymity of the callers, such as pager and message-deposit facilities. The latter enables the caller to ring and receive a message that has been left rather like an answer phone. That is how Ergun got in touch with the Liverpool connection. He also used the paging system. This enabled him to call a pager, which would then get in touch with another phone. Ergun had the sophistication to use these devices and was the vital link-man between the Turkish and Liverpool connections. He was a Turk who, by reason of his upbringing in the UK, was a fluent English speaker able to act as an interpreter or translator.
10
BUSTED – HAASE AND THE TURKS ARE ARRESTED
In mid-July 1993, with the 100-kilo load fresh from France in their sights, Customs and Excise prepared to bust the ring. But there was a bonus win as well – their number-one target, The Vulcan, had flown into the UK. Unusually, The Vulcan had flown in at the same time as one of his importations was being smuggled in. Astonishingly, he even went to Liverpool to oversee the handover to Haase.
Surveillance logs tracked his movements (the first few entries of which we have already seen), as well as every move the gang made in the run-up to the ‘knock’.
13/07/93: After the 100-kilo load is brought over the Channel by sea safely, Kaya and Vulcan arrived in UK together on flight from Paris.
14/07/93: Vulcan and Kaya observed at Windmill Gardens [again with Ergun]. At the time, the 100-kilo load was in transit to Liverpool.
16/07/93: Travelled to Liverpool – Kaya, Vulcan [Ergun is also present].
16/07/93: Haase and Bennett met Kaya, Ergun and Topaz [Vulcan] in Liverpool and they were seen entering the Boomerang Club to discuss the 100-kilo load. Kaya then made a quick shuttle trip back to Paris to make sure everything was OK over there.
19/07/93: When Kaya returned from Paris, shock development – arrived on flight from Paris with passport in the name of Dusanian and is deported to Istanbul.
21/07/93: A portion of the 100-kilo load is being cut up by Croker and Neil Garrett at Dane Street. Haase and Bennett were observed accepting a heavy plastic bag outside the Manor House pub from another man. Croker and Garrett were observed driving to various places in Liverpool. They were both seen outside Dane Street wearing surgical gloves.
26/07/93: Croker arrested in possession of uncut
50 kilos of heroin. Added together, the two quantities so far seized from the gang – Onay’s in December and Croker’s now – amounts to 85.7 kilos, with an estimated street-level value of £13,234,229. £27,980 in cash was recovered.
28/07/93: Haase and Bennett were arrested in Croydon. Kaya sneaks back into UK after deportation and is arrested at King’s Cross station with false passport in the name of Garo Sarkizian.
Behind the perfunctory detail of the official documents, real-life criminals such as bagman Eddie Croker, underboss Suleyman Ergun and crazed megalomaniac John Haase had been living out extraordinary existences in a world which seemed ordinary to them.
EDDIE CROKER: In July 1993, I was told by Paul Bennett and John Haase to expect to receive a large amount of heroin within a few days and that I should get somewhere safe to stash it. I would be told when and where to collect it. By this time, Paul Bennett and John Haase knew where I had been stashing the drugs – and they were not happy. They told me to speak to Neil Garrett about finding a better place to store it. Neil had been with me to the Black Horse when I was delivering the money to the Turks or stashing drugs.
I spoke to Neil about finding a new place to stash the heroin. He told me he could get a place where we could go to separate the heroin into smaller amounts and a second place where it could be stored. On 21 July, he picked me up at my house in his car, which was a blue Previa, and went to an address near the Everton football ground in the backstreets.
We were met by Mark Drew. He said that we could use his house to take the drugs once we had them. We would pay him £400. After this, me and Neil went to an address in the Gilmoss estate in Liverpool, where we picked up a friend of Neil’s called Dave.
We then drove to Cherry Lane, Liverpool, where I used to stash gloves and plastic bags. Then to the Chaser pub on Long Lane, where we met a man who passed the bags of heroin from his car to ours. I don’t know the exact amount of heroin; it would be between 25 and 30 kilos. Then we drove back to Mark Drew’s house. Then Mark told us we could not use his house as his wife was at home but that he’d got a friend’s house a few streets away. He took us to the house and all four of us went inside with the bag of heroin. Myself, Neil and Dave took heroin into the kitchen and Mark stayed in the living room. Part of Mark’s job was to answer the door if anyone called. Then I went out to meet John Haase and Paul Bennett in a street nearby to let them know everything was OK. I told them that Neil had organised a safehouse for the heroin.
Back in the house, we were splitting the heroin into smaller quantities. This took quite a long time. Then we moved the heroin into the Previa. Me, Neil and Dave then drove to my parents’ house, where we left the bag of heroin in the car. Neil and Dave got a taxi to make sure everything was OK at the place where we were going to stash the heroin later.
A few days later, Paul Bennett told me that a second load of heroin was expected, which I would be told when and where to collect. The day before I was arrested, he told me to go to the same place as before at lunchtime and take delivery of the heroin. I was to go the next day. I tried to contact Neil so that we could do the same as previously but I could not get in touch with him. On the day I was arrested, I bought a cheap Toyota Carina and went to the same pub as before. I was again met by a man [Suleyman Ergun or one of his runners] who transferred the bags of heroin from his car to mine. From there, I went to my parents’ home, into which I took the heroin. I was going to separate the heroin but before I could do this the house was raided by the police.
The final leg of Croker’s journey in the car full of heroin had been tracked by a Customs plane.
PHIL CONNELLY: We were looking for a car. We actually got an aircraft to overfly the address to whom the car was named. That was in Liverpool. We got the aircraft to have a look. That’s when the police did the bust. It was 99 per cent perspiration and 1 per cent inspiration. It was just a lot of hard work.
Croker was the first to get nicked, at his mum’s house. The panic-stricken carpet cleaner immediately got on his toes. The front door was booted in and Detective-Sergeant Taylor of Merseyside Police rushed inside the Coronation Street-style terrace. He saw Croker was at the top of the stairs holding a large green bag. ‘Stop, police!’ he shouted. Croker hurled the large green bag at him and bolted off. He ran into the back bedroom and kicked in a window, crouched down and jumped out. But there was a copper waiting for him. So he pulled himself up to the ledge and jumped onto a shed. He was collared in the garden. The second load of heroin which he had stashed at his mum’s house weighed approximately 50 kilos.
In a blue nylon holdall there were 26 plastic bags, 25 of which were full kilo bags. The remaining bag had a quarter-kilo of heroin inside. A green canvas holdall contained eight polythene bags in a torn green plastic bag. Each had a kilo inside. Another green canvas holdall contained 14 kilos. Another contained two kilos of heroin. It was all 50 to 60 per cent pure. Four kilos of ‘bash’ paracetamol was also found. Realising the game was up, Haase and Bennett went on the run.
PHIL CONNELLY: We, the Customs, didn’t even bother going in on the knock [at Croker’s house]. Haase and Bennett were just sensible enough to not be around when it went down. Of course, they didn’t know it was going to happen. It’s just general practice that a major drugs trafficker will have people working for him. Not only will he not be there, he probably won’t even be in the country and won’t come back until he knows that it’s all OK. Hence, Haase and Bennett were not at the house.
For a few days, Haase and Bennett ‘sat off’ in a caravan in Wales to evade capture. They tipped off Ergun to stay away from Liverpool.
SULEYMAN ERGUN: In July, we were busy. What happened was that we had just delivered Haase 100 kilos of heroin. That was the gear Kaya and I had drove through France to Paris, where it was given to Haase’s people. They had got it to England and then taken it to Liverpool, where it ended up. I went to Liverpool to make sure everything was OK. I met Eddie Croker. That was me at the handover.
This 100 kilos had been split into two or three loads. At least two were given to Eddie. The first one was the 25–30 kilos he mentioned. A few days later, I’d collected money off him for that and then he was given more heroin as well. That was about 50 kilos. He was a mule.
In all, this load of 100 kilos in total was the last one we ever gave to Haase before we all got nicked – 100 kilos on credit at £20,000 a kilo. So they owed us £2 million. The arrangement was that I was to collect a million pounds from them in the first one or two weeks.
I was on the way to collect the million in cash. Just before I got to Liverpool, I phoned them. Bennett came on the phone. Suddenly, he said to me, ‘It’s ontop. We’re going to London.’ So I turned back round and went to London. I didn’t know what was going on but the prop-shaft on my car had gone. I got to London but I didn’t know where Haase and Bennett were going or nothing.
I then finds out that Eddie Croker had just been nicked for the 50 kilos I had seen him with a few days earlier. I felt sorry for Eddie. He was a quiet fella. He wasn’t streetwise. But there was no time to think about that – I had to think about me, the pressure was on. I gave the car to a friend of mine who works at BMW to get the prop-shaft fixed. I go home, get changed and all that. That night, I went out for a meal with a couple of mates, but obviously a bit para’ [paranoid], a bit panicky and that. I get dropped off at home. There’s a helicopter over my house. I hid in the bushes. It was right over my mum and dad’s house in Somerstown in Camden. I hid in the bushes for 45 minutes, covered in mud. Got home. Changed. Get some money and get back out on the street.
I then met up with John Haase and his mate, this black fella called Roy who John had given us £5,000 off once. We went on a drive through Swiss Cottage. But I was getting a bad feeling, so I said, ‘Listen, I’m getting out here.’ I got out of the car and said, ‘I’ll phone you.’
The next day, I met them again and Roy took me to a safehouse in Crystal Palace where he was holding Haase and Bennett. They a
sked me for money. A bit of a liberty, wasn’t it, since they owed us a million fucking quid or more? But I kind of understood, that for the moment all bets were off. Then I said, ‘I’m going.’ I got back down to Enfield. I lived there with my girl at the time. I’d left the keys on me key-ring, which I’d given to my mate at BMW with the car keys, so I couldn’t get in the house. I went into a Bretons café on Windmill Hill. Had some sandwiches and that. I come out the sandwich shop and made a few phone calls to Turkey from a phone box near Enfield Chase railway station and another by a parade of shops on Link Side. I phoned Kaya and left a message for him not to come to England because it’s ontop. I couldn’t get through to him but I left a few messages with his brother and his wife.
As I’m walking through Enfield town, suddenly I hear a beep-beep sound. I looked round and it was a post-office van. A young fella who was walking behind me said, ‘Fucking hell! He nearly killed me!’ He was talking about nearly being run over by this post-office van which had gone beep beep. I just smiled at him and kept on walking. The next minute, he slammed the cuffs on me, spun me around and searched me for a gun. The cheeky fella who had said he’d nearly been run over was undercover Customs officer Mark Sprawson. The next second, I was lying on the floor with red dots all over me – from police guns.
That was it. I was nicked. All over in a few seconds. End of story. The beep beep was the signal to take me down. The whole place, including my flat, had been surrounded. And I hadn’t known.
First they took me to Enfield town police station but then the police said the station wasn’t secure enough to hold me. Because of Mr V and all that, they were scared in case a team was sent in to get me out. Then they took me to Edmonton police station. At about twelve or one o’clock in the morning, they put me in an Audi, Customs and Excise, and took me to Bromborough police station in Birkenhead on the Wirral. That was me getting nicked. What a fucking day!