Men used fake ambulances to smuggle £1.6bn of cocaine and heroin into UK

A Dutch gang used fake ambulances to smuggle £1.6 billion worth of drugs into the UK.Olof Schoon and Richard Engelsbel admitted their role in the "lucrative conspiracy", while Leonardus Bijlsma was convicted at Birmingham Crown Court today after denying involvement.

The trio's audacious plot involved using bogus paramedic uniforms and fake patients on crutches to sneak high-quality cocaine and heroin to locations across the UK.

They will likely be handed lengthy jail terms when they are sentenced next week.

A fourth man, Dennis Vogelaar, 28, was cleared.

Here's what we know about the plot.

• The plot

One of the fake ambulances that was used in the plot. Credit: National Crime Agency

The drugs would first arrive on a ferry from the Netherlands in an ambulance with two bogus paramedics on board and fake patients to "make their cover more authentic".

On one occasion, a man apparently restricted to using crutches was later seen walking around freely without them.

Fake invoices, riddled with spelling mistakes, and paperwork for false patient transfers to The Royal London Hospital were also used.

A fake ambulance used to smuggle the drugs.Credit: National Crime Agency

• Huge drugs haul discovered during arrests

A haul of drugs seized from the fleet of ambulances. Credit: National Crime Agency

The smugglers managed to transport drugs into the UK at least 45 times between early 2014 and June 2015 when they were eventually caught.

The total street value of the drugs - which were transported to locations in Essex, London, Manchester, Merseyside, West Yorkshire and the Midlands - was £1.6 billion.

When they were arrested near a scrapyard in the West Midlands, police found the ambulance "rammed" to the roof with cocaine, heroin and ecstasy.

The huge supply of drugs - which were hidden in secret compartments of the fake ambulances - included:

193

kilos of cocaine

74

kilos of heroin

22

of MDMA crystal

20,000

ecstasy tabkets

• The guilty men

Leonardus Bijlsma

Bijlsma, 55, was described as a right-hand man in the plot. Credit: National Crime Agency

Bijlsma, 55, claimed he was just an illiterate handyman but was in fact the smuggling operation's "right-hand man".

The father-of-four's DNA was found on a rivet gun and gloves hidden in one of the hides in the back of the ambulance.

He had consistently denied the offence during a two-week trial.

Olof Schoon

Olof Schoon admitted the offence. Credit: National Crime Agency

Olof Schoon was said to be the "central player" who put together the audacious smuggling ring.

He ensured they could use a fully taxed and insured fleet of adapted ambulances run out of registered company offices back in Holland.

Richard Engelsbel

Richard Engelsbel pleaded guilty at Birmingham Crown Court. Credit: National Crime Agency

Richard Engelsbel, 51, had already admitted driving an ambulance on 25 trips during the operation.

• 'Highly specialist drug transportation service'

Rob Lewin, head of the NCA's specialist operations unit, said:

This was a highly specialist drug transportation service.

By shutting it down the NCA and its partners have disrupted criminal activity across the UK.

There will be some very frustrated high-level criminals out there who, given the size of their orders, will have lost a lot of money.

The human cost of class A drug addiction is huge but these men, who made trip after trip, were motivated only by profit.

We will now start to focus on stripping them of any assets.

– ROB LEWIN, NCA