Four members of a criminal gang which plotted to import cocaine worth more than £20 million in frozen fish deliveries bound for a famous London market have been jailed.

The group planned to import about 600 kilos (1,230lbs) of cocaine from South America that would be received by one of the gang’s legitimate businesses at Billingsgate Market, the Metropolitan Police said.

The plot was dubbed the “Fish Conspiracy” by detectives with the four men handed sentences ranging from 13 years to 22 years for conspiracy to import Class A drugs.

Samuel Tokeley, 57, of Alicante, Spain; and Nicholas Shilling, 63, of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, were each jailed for 22 years at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday.

Scott Richards, 51, of Wickford, Essex, was sentenced to 14-and-a-half years, and Scott Unwin, 52, of Dagenham, Essex, was jailed for 13 years.

Tokeley, Unwin and Shilling planned to import approximately 600kg of cocaine hidden within frozen fish shipments from South America, using Unwin’s legitimate fish business at Billingsgate Market to receive the load.

Samuel Tokeley who has been sentenced to 22 years

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Scott Richards has been sentenced to 14 and a half years for his part in a organised crime network involving plans to flood the UK with hundreds of kilograms of drugs hidden in frozen fish deliveries

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Nicholas Shilling who has been sentenced to 22 years for his part in a organised crime network

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Scott Unwin who has been sentenced to 13 years for his part

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The scheme was uncovered when encrypted conversations were spotted on the now-dismantled EncroChat platform.

Although encrypted messages showed the group discussing payments, shipping documentation, logistics and contacts in Ecuador responsible for sourcing the cocaine, the importation never happened, the Met said.

Recovered messages included conservations about the movement of cocaine, ketamine, large sums of cash and cryptocurrency, plus plans to use legitimate businesses and transport routes to try to hide their actions.

The investigation also uncovered separate conspiracies to import industrial quantities of ketamine, with phone messages revealing plans for hundreds of kilograms of the drug to be sourced, processed on the continent and imported into the UK for wholesale distribution, the police said.

At Woolwich Crown Court, Tokeley pleaded guilty on Monday, 23 March, while Richards, Unwin and Shilling were convicted by a jury following a trial which concluded in May.

Detective Chief Inspector Dean Grafton, from the Met’s specialist crime unit, said the gang was “operating on an industrial scale”.

He said: “The defendants believed that encrypted communication platforms would protect them as they discussed vast quantities of drugs, laundering criminal profits and exploiting legitimate businesses to facilitate their offending.”

The Met worked with the National Crime Agency and international law enforcement, he added.