Bromley (Parliament Politics Magazine) – A Beckenham, Bromley, drug dealer has been jailed after authorities uncovered encrypted phone data revealing he imported £17m worth of cocaine.
On March 25, a jury at Southwark Crown Court found 35-year-old Kurtis Hoyte, from Bromley, guilty of drug and money laundering offenses involving 540 kilograms of the class A substance.
In May 2020, he was detained after he was seen giving the driver of a flat-bed truck at Beckenham Hill Station five kilograms of cocaine, which had an estimated market value of £180,000.
In May 2020, he was detained after he was seen giving the driver of a flat-bed truck at Beckenham Hill Station five kilograms of cocaine, which had an estimated market value of £180,000.
It was discovered that he utilized this to plan the importation of 540 kilograms of cocaine under the handle “retroblade” over a nine-month period from June 2019 to March 2020.
He and truck driver Kieran Graham, 27, of Rayleigh, Essex, were found guilty by a jury in October 2020 of the seizure of the five kilograms of cocaine.
The same court condemned Hoyte to 18 years in prison today (April 8) for the importations displayed on his EncroChat phone, and to 10 years in prison in November of last year for the seizure of the five kilograms.
Subsequent searches may have turned up more evidence connecting Hoyte to broader drug trafficking enterprises after his arrest in May 2020.
A more thorough inquiry into Hoyte’s role in importing bigger amounts of drugs was conducted after it was discovered that he had contributed to the transfer of five kilograms of cocaine. To fully grasp the extent of his operations, this required reviewing bank documents, monitoring shipments, and perhaps working with foreign partners.
Hoyte’s conviction at Southwark Crown Court for drug and money laundering offenses related to importing 540 kg of cocaine was the investigation’s climax.
The sentences will all run simultaneously.
Andrew Tickner, NCA Operations Manager from the OCP, said:
“From the seizure of a relatively small amount of cocaine, my team was able to build a picture of large scale drug dealing arranged by Kurtis Hoyte.
He was behind multi-kilo importations which would have seeped on to the streets of London and the UK, leaving a trail of violence and exploitation with them.
The crucial partnership between the National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police Service has helped put a high-harm offender behind bars for a very long time.
Our fight against the organised criminal networks behind the drugs trade will never slow down.”
The 20-year-old Organised Crime Partnership is made up of an equal number of detectives from the Metropolitan Police and specialised NCA personnel.
The team aims to disrupt those outside who profit greatly from this illicit business, target upstream criminals who affect London, and stop the flow of drugs to the city’s criminal market.
How did the authorities first become aware of Kurtis Hoyte’s involvement in drug trafficking in Bromley?
In May 2020, an observation brought Kurtis Hoyte’s involvement in narcotics trafficking to the attention of the authorities. Hoyte was observed giving five kilograms of cocaine to a flat-bed truck driver close to Beckenham Hill Station during this event.
A more thorough inquiry into his actions was probably prompted by this observation, which resulted in the gathering of more evidence and, eventually, his conviction for importing 540 kilograms of cocaine and other money laundering violations.
The discovery that Hoyte had turned over a sizable amount of cocaine marked the start of the investigation. Law enforcement was probably notified of this occurrence, which led them to look into it more.
Authorities most certainly carried out surveillance and obtained intelligence on Hoyte’s activities after the initial sighting.