PARIS: A Briton accused of being one of Europe’s biggest drug traffickers was jailed for 22 years on Friday for smuggling over a tonne of cocaine into France in suitcases stashed on an Air France flight.

The court said Robert Dawes, 46, would have to serve at least 15 years with no possibility of parole over the brazen 2013 drugs shipment from Venezuela to Paris.

Dawes, who had denied the charges, was arrested at his luxury villa on the Spanish Costa del Sol in 2015 following a lengthy investigation by authorities in Britain, France, Spain and South America.

“I continue to claim my innocence,” he said on Friday morning in his final statement to the special non-jury court.

The case was tried by five judges who ordered Dawes and four accomplices — three Italians and one Briton — to pay a 30-million-euro ($34.2 million) fine.

“Far from a small-time fall guy, today we are judging men in the highest ranks of organised crime who supplied European networks,” prosecutor Isabelle Raynaud told the court during the week.

Hailing the verdict, the deputy director of Britain’s National Crime Agency, Matt Horne, describe Dawes as “one of the most significant organised criminals in Europe with a network that literally spanned the globe.” “Dawes was prepared to use extreme levels of violence in order to further his reputation and take retribution against those who crossed him. Members or associates of his criminal group are known to have been involved in intimidation, shootings and murders,” Horne added in a statement.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2018