A car salesman from a quaint Norfolk Broads village has been jailed for masterminding an extraordinary £7m international drugs plot which involved disguising his couriers as Deliveroo drivers.
Robert Fuller, 50, from Barton Turf, was involved in importing "vast" amounts of cocaine and cannabis into the UK, using money laundered from his Norwich car sales firm.
He then planned to traffick the drugs using recovery trucks and runners kitted out in fake Deliveroo outfits, so they would remain undetected by police.
Detectives began to unravel his plot after uncovering encrypted messages in which he outlined his plans.
But as the net closed in on him, he fled overseas to Bali.
He was finally arrested in January last year while trying to re-enter the UK after arriving by ferry on Anglesey from the Republic of Ireland.
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He appeared at Norwich Crown Court on October 31, when he was sentenced to 12 years in jail.
Fuller - dubbed the "drugs lord of the Broads" - organised his operation using the now-defunct messaging service EncroChat, which was used primarily by organised crime gangs.
In conversations uncovered by the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU), Fuller - under the username "Quasifighter" - described how he planned to outfit drug runners in fake Deliveroo outfits.
His messages also revealed an attempt to buy a Russian Makarov handgun and import liquid cocaine from Peru in jars of asparagus, as well as his intention to launder illicit money through his car sales business and use recovery trucks as another way of moving drugs and cash.
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In total, the conversations showed Fuller had been involved in selling and distributing 159kg of cocaine - worth around £6,500,000 – and 98kg of cannabis worth around £364,000, between February 2019 and June 2020.
After EncroChat was dismantled in a massive international law enforcement campaign in 2020, Fuller fled to Bali.
ERSOU continued their inquiries and investigated his city car sales firm as well as his home in the quiet village on the edge of Barton Broad.
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An August 2021 search revealed the Deliveroo uniforms mentioned in his chats and a vehicle with secret compartments to stash drugs in.
Following his arrest in Wales, Fuller, from Smallburgh Road, Barton Turf, was charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis. He pleaded guilty to both offences in April, before his sentencing last month.
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Jim Fincham, a detective inspector from ERSOU's regional organised crime unit, said: "Robert Fuller was a high-level criminal who went to great lengths to mask his activity, using hides in vehicles and laundering the illicit cash through a car sales company.
"Despite Fuller's attempts to evade justice, our diligent investigators continued their enquiries after he had left the county, and police were waiting the moment he arrived back in the UK.
"Our region is a safer place now that he is behind bars, and I'd like to thank everyone involved in bringing him to justice."
Barton Turf, with a population of fewer than 500 people, has been described as "lovely", "small" and "unspoilt". It sits close to Barton Broad, the second largest of the Broads and a popular spot for sailing and other water activities.
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