What did Curtis Warren do?
Curtis Warren is an English gangster and drug trafficker who began plotting a new business venture after being released from prison in 2007.
During a stint in the Netherlands’ highest security prison, he’d been planning an operation to smuggle more than £1m of cannabis into the Channel Islands. His plan was to buy 180kg of the drug in Amsterdam and transport it to an isolated bit of coastland in Normandy, France.
It would then be hidden in a small boat and shipped to the island of Jersey before being smuggled under the cover of the cliffs near St. Catherine’s Breakwater. The street value of cannabis in Jersey was 3 times higher than in the UK, so he stood to make a lot of money from the venture. However, detectives were tracking Warren at every turn, unbeknownst to him and his gang. Warren and his gang were arrested on the 21st of July 2007, before any drugs could make their way to Jersey.
What happened at the trial?
On the 7th of October 2009, Warren was found guilty of conspiring to smuggle £1m of cannabis onto the island at the royal court in St. Helier in Jersey. In December 2009, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
It would’ve been Jersey’s biggest-ever drug importation, but due to some excellent police work, the plot was scuppered. In 2013, Warren was given 10 more years in prison when he refused to pay a £198 million confiscation order.
In 2022, Warren was released from a high-security prison, HMP Whitemoor, but he was put under a serious crime prevention order upon his release, putting many restrictions on his day-to-day life.
Where is Curtis Warren now?
Curtis Warren is 60 years old now, and he was arrested again in July 2023, this time by the National Crime Agency. He was charged in November with 11 counts of failing to comply with a serious crime prevention order relating to his release from prison in 2022.
Warren didn’t enter a plea at the court appearance at Liverpool Crown Court, and a trial was set for the 12th of August 2024. The trial is expected to last 2 weeks. He is currently on bail ahead of a further hearing on the 3rd of June 2024.
The charges relate to his failure to notify the authorities of a change of communication device, and his use of credit cards to set up a business, what this business was, and an application he made for a passport. He is also accused of breaching the terms of the order by having more than £1,000 in his possession and failing to declare all his income.
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