Gang jailed for plotting to flood Britain with 600kg of cocaine hidden in frozen fish shipments worth £20m

From the Newshound archive · first published 26 September 2026 · last updated 27 September 2026.

Samuel Tokeley, 57, and Nicholas Shilling, 63, were each handed 22-year sentences at Snaresbrook Crown Court after the Metropolitan Police's 'Operation Fish Conspiracy' exposed their plot to smuggle cocaine from South America through Billingsgate Market. Scott Unwin, 52, who ran the legitimate fish business earmarked to receive the drugs, was jailed for 13 years, while Scott Richards, 51, got 14 and a half years. The importation — worth more than £20 million on UK streets — was intercepted before a single shipment arrived. The men's downfall came after investigators cracked their encrypted EncroChat conversations.

The cocaine, some 600kg, was to be packed into frozen fish deliveries and delivered to Unwin's legitimate Billingsgate Market business as cover.

The same gang also plotted to import INDUSTRIAL QUANTITIES of ketamine, sourced on the continent and distributed wholesale across the UK.

Contacts in Ecuador were lined up to source the cocaine, with messages covering shipping logistics, cryptocurrency payments and cash movements all recovered by the Met.