Suspected British drug lord on trial for cocaine plot

A SUSPECTED British drug lord goes on trial today in Paris for allegedly masterminding a plot to flood Europe with cocaine.

Nottingham-born Robert Dawes, 46, denies charges that he ran an operation that smuggled 1.3 tons of cocaine, worth £45 million, to France on a flight from Venezuela in 2013.

Two other Britons, named as Nathan Wheat and Kane Price, are also charged with involvement in trafficking.

Accused of being one of Europe’s biggest drug smugglers, Dawes was arrested in 2015 at his villa on Spain’s Costa del Sol following an international undercover operation initiated by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA), which exposed a network of corrupt officials and security flaws.

Four agents of France’s anti-trafficking agency posed as corrupt baggage handlers at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris to intercept 31 suitcases containing cocaine. They found evidence indicating that Dawes and his associates organised the shipment using encrypted phones.