Moment cabbie courier and mastermind behind Britain’s most upmarket cocaine ring were arrested after decades delivering drugs of ‘mind-blowing’ quality to rich City traders

This caught an antique seller who called themselves as ‘upper -toothed’ gang and declared a cocaine ring that delivered drugs to rich city traders.

Following the punishment of 57 -year -old antique merchant Nathan Samuels, images from RAID, who was imprisoned in Inner London Crown Court for nine years, were published.

The customers of the gang extended from lawyers and traders to insurance companies and recruitment experts-10,000, all of them are waiting for high-level services.

Everyone in Square Mile knew the number of Top Gear phone line, also called City Gear.

Since 2014, the police have been operating under the radar and slid millions of pounds of class A drugs to customers who were in good condition.

The detectives say that the men behind the operation provide a mid -range customer to a middle -class customer until the collapse, thanks to a skillful investigation by the London city of London.

Four of Samuels’s fast delivery couriers – including a taxi driver, which was also arrested and now released – imprisoned imprisonment between two years of prison sentences ranging from the rails for up to four years.

Everyone was found guilty of a series of cocaus. Last week, Matthew, a 33 -year -old son of Samuels, was imprisoned for three and a half years for his role in the operation.

Samuels declared a cocaine ring racket that called themselves as ‘upper gear’ gang – where he arrested him by the police he arrested on suspicion of supplying classes of drugs.

Following the punishment of 57-year-old antique merchant Nathan Samuels, images of raids were published-Video showing how the members were caught by the police

Det Const Matt Cooper from the serious organized crime team of the City of London said: ‘We have never seen anything like this-it was one of the largest and largest drug lines that have been going on for the longest time that the city has ever known.

‘The norm sold 80 percent pure cocaine when it was about 50 percent and promised to take medicine to customers in less than 30 minutes. And if a customer complains about a slow delivery, I apologize. ‘

When the gang members were arrested in 2023, meticulously compiled by the police showed that they sold cocaine worth £ 16,400 in the city almost only in the city.

At the beginning of the operation, the crime bosses had the most unlikely – a man who had no criminal record. Nathan Samuels, a father of four and two of them, was interested in a stone shot from the Waterloo station and London books and artworks in a council house in a council of 800 $ four -storey per month in Cornwall Road.

There was an enterprise selling antiques, jewels and watches, and he had a company specialized in renting areas other than train stations and finding worthy of trucks with fast food package service – Samsite Ltd.

They included areas outside the Waterloo and Southwark stations brought to their knees during Covid pandemia with almost anything, and the police believe that this decline could focus Samuels’s attention on drug business.

The investigation of the city police lasted from March 2022 to October 2023, and the detectives found that the key phones in the operation have been used since 2014.

However, such devices, which are ready for a list of drug businesses, can change hands for a large amount of money. Samuels’ Covid challenges are thought to direct him to buy one.

In any week, the gang was selling cocaine worth £ 16,400 in the city of London.

Detective Sergeant Darren Norman, who controls the case, “ “ `he managed the work like a taxi office, ” he says.

They called ‘cocaine windings “tickets”, so that a customer will steal or message the upper -to -gear line and tell Samuels that they want too much tickets to a specific location or postal code.

‘Samuels was able to watch all the couriers using their phones and choose the closest to the customer. That’s why he was very fast. ‘

Since the cocaine is very pure, only one half a gram of yellows were sold for £ 90, £ 90, three for £ 140 and five for £ 200. Couriers paid for 300 £ 300 plus good sales per day were encouraged to be customer -friendly and smart. As the advantages added, any blockage fees, park tickets and car rental costs were covered.

Samuels would rent six couriers on a day, each expected to sell between 50 and 75. Deliveries took place from 10 am to midnight.

Michael Redgrave, one of the 56 -year -old couriers living on the same street as Samuels, used the black cabin to deliver.

For 23 years, a cabin told the police that he did £ 500 per day and £ 300 to leave drugs.

The detectives say Samuels, a four -year -old father and two grandfather. He used some of the money to get his family on luxury holidays. He was also a proud owner of a purebred British Bulldog.

43 -year -old Aaron Bretao, left and 35 -year -old Martin Gupta, both were found guilty. Police said Gupta proud to his friends up to £ 3,000 a week.

33 -year -old Matthew Samuels, left and 24 -year -old Josh Atherton was a member of the ‘Top Gear’ operation. Matthew was thrown into prison for three and a half years

DS Norman, following the decisions, said: ‘As a police officer for 30 years, I did not encounter a London Cabbie, which we were treated for drugs.

‘They are usually honest individuals who are proud of all the work they put to do to make information.

But he decided to give drugs – and it was almost a perfect crime.

‘Nobody would think twice about a person entering a taxi, rubbing and then going down the road with cocaine in his pocket.’

In February 2022, another 36 -year -old courier Gary Miller from Islington was caught while delivering cocaine, and the best -toothed operation began to dissolve.

As the detectives examined the phone records, they were able to start a large cross -reference operation that led to customers, other couriers and eventually the gang boss Samuels.

The investigation was groundbreaking because the police could close the most sophisticated cocaine operation on the patches without large -scale seizures, and were able to reveal guilty satisfaction.

In fact, the drugs they found were almost only rescued from customers during the arrest of newly delivered couriers.

The gang kept detailed books of his accounts showing the scope of his crimes.

The police also seized encrypted messages containing the details of thousands of customers provided by the gang.

The cross -reference of calls and delivery places enabled the police to arrest couriers without having to have drugs.

Matthew, the son of Samuels, was also arrested without drugs, the father and father of a person who was also the director of Samsite LTD.

Unlike other gang members, he did not answer each question during the interview. Instead, Cooper and Norman can be at risk for detectives.

DS Norman said: ‘We asked the “Charlie”, which is slang for cocaine on her phone, was so many references and said that the short “Henry” for Henry VIII – in the drug circles, an ounce of marijuana with side sales is eighth.

He insisted that Charlie and Henry were his friend. And when he changed it as guilty of supplying cannabis, he continued to court. ‘

Samuels claimed that he was not guilty of cocaine charges, but later he was found guilty.

Also without any medication – but the culprit satisfaction – 43 -year -old couriers from Clerkenwell Aaron Bretao and Barnet’ten 35 -year -old Martin Gupta. They were arrested in May 2023.

Gupta, who had previous convictions to be real physical damage, attack and drunk and irregular, was caught empty -handed, but he witnessed two drug agreements before he was arrested. Moped driving, drug delivery has been full -time work for about three years.

Police said he was overheard that he had reached his friends up to £ 3,000 a week. He put most of them into destinations such as Cape Verde and Morocco with his wife and stepfather.

After the arrest of Miller (45 months imprisonment at an earlier hearing), Gupta and Bretao, Nathan Samuels feared that the police would later come for him and that he would deliver three drugs to 24 -year -old Josh Atherton, a member of another gang. But the detectives attributed him to the operation.

Two days after the detainees of Gupta, Hemingford Road raided his home in Islington, button did not have any of his vital phones on him – but DS Norman found them looking for nearby gardens.

DC Cooper, “ “ threw them there, but after smelling DS Norman, you can say that the network was closed to Samuels, ” he says. ‘Two of these phones had numbers used for the upper -toothed drug lines – and we found more than 9,700 customers’ contact information in these phones.’

The police also recovered the notebooks in Atherton’s house. They strengthened the case against Nathan Samuels.

Samuels and Son were arrested at the same time on July 12, 2023 a week later. Again, no medication was found, but the guilty satisfaction was arrived because of the air -proof nature of the evidence of communication against them.

“Nathan Samuels was not like Pablo Escobar sitting on cola stacks, Ds says Ds Norman. We couldn’t find any drugs. He was calm and light -tempered. However, after the arrest of other gang members, he probably waited for us. ‘

Officers did not discover the source of Gear Gang’s supply of drugs, but it may not be a coincidence that 28-year-old Nathan’s nephew Harry Hicks-Samuels was imprisoned in November 2022 to import cocaine.

The French police were caught as a result of a national criminal agency operation after breaking a secret messaging system called Encroochat, which is widely used by international criminals who thought that their sophisticated encryption was misleading.

Again, like Hicks-Samuels’s uncle, it may not be a coincidence that it is a coincidence that it is a business that sells a business, which is a facade for cocaine operation.

No ball Gear customer has faced criminal charges, but was warned for having those caught after buying drugs in moments before the couriers were arrested. The evidence helped to reduce the organized crime group.

However, the most productive 2,000 customers were later given as strong as the Top Gear Gang had sold them. They were sent by the police of London by a text message that would race the hearts.

‘Important police activity stressed that this number is used to apply to the “City Gear” drug line, a number of class A drug supply,’ he read.

‘Drug abuse can affect your employment. Drugs are still illegal and can lead to arrest. Prospects for drug abuse may affect your right to travel to certain countries. ‘