Colombian gangsters Humberto Caicedo Ramirez, 53, and Carlos Barbosa Arias, 61, were caught when police raided a laboratory inside a flat in Vauxhall, south London
Columbian gangsters, thought to be the first in Britain to extract cocaine chemically concealed in bars of hair wax, have been jailed.
Humberto Caicedo Ramirez, 53, and Carlos Barbosa Arias, 61, were foiled when police raided their make-shift lab inside a flat in Vauxhall, south London. Officers found bars of soap packaged for importation into the UK containing 3.51 kilograms of cocaine with a street value of £211,320.
Body-worn footage shows the dramatic moment the pair were arrested by City of London Police who had been tipped off by UK Border Force.
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Gang member Sebastian Camacho Lopez, 31, was seen entering a property with a bag suspected to contain the Class A drug, leaving a short while later empty-handed on October 9, 2024. He returned with Ramirez and Arias, all of them carrying what seemed to be a petrol can, bottles of water and other items in bags. Lopez left again.
Specialist officers forced entry to the premises, where Ramirez and Arias were caught actively processing the cocaine within a homemade lab. Arias acted as the chemist for the group, having come to the UK solely to share his knowledge of the extraction process.
Inside the flat, police found a significant amount of cocaine, mixing agents, petrol and other chemicals used for processing. The next day, Lopez was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to supply cocaine when he returned to the same address.
At Inner London Crown Court on Friday, Ramirez, 53, was sentenced to 13 years and six months in prison having admitted production and conspiracy to supply. Arias, 61, and Lopez, 31, were handed eight years and six years and seven months respectively. Jonny Delgado, 49, was convicted over a drugs chop house and sentenced to 16 years in jail. Collectively, the group was sentenced to 44 years behind bars.
City of London Police’s Detective Constable Matt Cooper said: “This was an extremely dangerous and highly sophisticated criminal operation, with a chemical extraction lab hidden in the heart of a residential area.
“The sheer volume of hazardous chemicals and equipment uncovered by our officers posed a very real risk to the public and could have had devastating consequences. City of London Police have specialist, highly experienced detectives who are relentless in targeting serious and organised criminals, who often believe they can operate with impunity.
“This investigation shows how we are disrupting drug supply networks, not just on our City streets, but nationally and internationally, as criminals attempt increasingly complex methods to move drugs across borders, including concealing them in everyday items such as bars of soap.
“By dismantling this organised crime group, we have prevented a significant quantity of Class A cocaine from reaching the streets of London and beyond, protecting communities and saving lives.”
Other members of the gang were previously convicted in November 2024 for their part in the supply network. Albanian national Arjan Metliaj, 38, received four years, eight months and Alina Telecan, 32, got two years, and four months.
