A 65-year-old grandmother, nicknamed the 'Queen Bee,' has been jailed for leading a sprawling family drug empire that trafficked nearly 80 million pounds (Rs 924 Crore) worth of cocaine across the UK, according to The Metro.
Deborah Mason masterminded the highly profitable operation, recruiting relatives into the network, which moved almost a tonne of cocaine between April and November 2023. Couriers were paid 1,000 pounds a day to ferry drugs from London to cities including Bradford, Leicester, Birmingham, Bristol, and Cardiff, as per the news article.
Mason flaunted her wealth, taking photos of bundles of cash and boasting about making 90,000 pounds from the scheme, all while fraudulently claiming 50,000 pounds in benefits.
In total, Mason and seven members of her gang were handed sentences amounting to 106.5 years behind bars. Authorities described the operation as "extraordinarily profitable" and a major supplier of cocaine across England and Wales.
According to The Guardian, the ringleader spent her profits on designer goods and was looking to travel to Turkey to have cosmetic surgery, while young mothers who were part of the gang took their young children to pick-ups.
Mason, who directed other members of the gang and was in contact with an upstream supplier called Bugsy, was found guilty of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Judge Shorrock told Mason: "You were effectively the site foreman working under the direction of a site manager."
"You recruited members of your own family - as a mother you should have been setting an example for your children and not corrupting them."
The judge noted that several of the women have young children but said their involvement in the drug network only "makes it easier for unscrupulous" dealers to seek to recruit mothers.
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/uks-gangster-granny-jailed-for-rs-900-crore-cocaine-empire-run-with-family-8907899