Drug traffickers arrested after sending photos of French bulldog fined $1.4 million

A drug trafficker whose entire organized crime ring was brought down thanks to a photo of a French bulldog has been ordered to collect more than $1.4 million. The UK’s National Crime Agency announced.

Stefan Balduff, 64, and Philip Lawson, 63, were arrested in 2020 as part of Operation Venetic, drug traffickers, along with other members of their gang who were involved in smuggling drugs from the UK to Australia. The traffickers 448 kg Amphetamine About the price of $ 46 million in an arm of a drill down.

Traffickers rig auctions to ensure amphetamines get into the right hands. The drugs, which investigators say is MDMA, were first stored in heavy equipment at an industrial unit in Grays, Essex, before being shipped to Australia. It took about three months to reach Brisbane, the National Crime Agency said.

However, the ruse was foiled when co-trafficker Danny Brown sent Baldauf a photo of his French bulldog Bob.

Investigators were able to use the photo – with the accomplice’s phone number – and other methods to trace and monitor the organized crime group.

Chris Hill, who led the NCA investigation, said: “These criminals did not care about the suffering and exploitation that the supply of illegal drugs would bring to UK and Australian communities.”

Baldauf, Brown, Lawson and four other men in the UK have been jailed for 163 years for their association, the National Crime Agency announced. The other members face forfeiture hearings this year.