Jail cocaine ring prisoner to be sentenced

A prisoner who ran an international cocaine ring from his jail cell will be sentenced today.

George Moon arranged for parcels of 100 per cent pure cocaine to be smuggled into Britain and Ireland from South America.

Moon, 62, from Liverpool, co-ordinated the operation by using a mobile phone and two Sim cards which he kept hidden in his cell at HMP Lindholme, near Doncaster, where he was serving 15 years for drugs offences.

Moon would arrange for the parcels to be posted from Panama to addresses in Cork, Republic of Ireland, and then brought into the UK by fellow gang members.

He was caught with the phone and Sim cards when officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) raided his jail cell in joint operation with the Irish police.

Officers also found a notebook containing the phone numbers of other gang members and their contact in Panama.

Last month Moon pleaded guilty to four charges including conspiring to import Class A drugs into the UK and the Republic of Ireland, causing the smuggling of drugs into HMP Lindholme and causing the smuggling of mobile phone parts into the jail.

Moon and six members of his gang will be sentenced today at Liverpool Crown Court.