A Brentford man, who is currently on the run from police, has received a 20 year sentence for being part of a drug smuggling ring that was shipping in cocaine to the UK from Los Angeles.

35-year old Solomon Cobourne, of Ealing Road, Brentford, who failed to turn up for the trial in November last year, was sentenced in his absence and is still being hunted by police in Britain and the Caribbean.

Solomon Cobourne and Rorey Ross

Cobourne is described as black, 6', of slim build, with a pierced left ear, and a Jamaican accent. He may be in the north-west London area where he has friends, but might have gone to Jamaica, where active enquiries are currently being made. Through the UK National Crime Agency he has been circulated as wanted via Interpol.

His associate 34-year old Rorey Rose, of Harlesden, was sentenced at Brighton Crown Court to 14 years imprisonment. He will also be deported to his native Jamaica on his release from prison.

Both were also subjected to Serious Crime Prevention Orders (SCPO) severely restricting their access to computers, mobile phones, and cash.

The sentencings result from an investigation, codenamed Operation Bronzo, by Detective Constable Dom Marini from the Sussex Police Serious Organised Crime Unit into the distribution of cocaine in the Bexhill area between 2011 and 2014.

Between June and September 2011 15 identical FedEx packages were delivered to three separate addresses in Bexhill. The last package was intercepted by police and a dummy package delivered in its place. The intercepted package was found to contain a kilo of cocaine at 90% purity and valued at £178,200 in potential street value. The organisers used a local criminal network to receive and distribute the drugs.

Police enquiries soon established that the actual intended recipient for the intercepted package was Rose. Several days before the delivery of the dummy package Rose had been seen with another man at an address in Bexhill. After the pair left police executed a Misuse of Drugs Act warrant and recovered a quantity of crack cocaine.

Rose then disappeared from Bexhill and was circulated as wanted by Sussex Police. In December 2013 he was stopped by police in London and arrested for unrelated road traffic offences. He was then further arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to import cocaine. His flat was searched and evidence seized. Examination of his mobiles identified relevant US contacts and text messages.

Authorities in the US confirmed that one of the US contacts in his phone was subject of a joint Drugs Enforcement Agency (DEA) and Los Angeles law enforcement investigation into cocaine being shipped to the UK via FedEx fast courier service.

Text message content confirmed that large sums of cash had been sent to Los Angeles, California via Western Union and Money Gram. Police enquiries identified 123 separate cash transfers totalling £259,352.94 sent from London NW10 to Los Angeles between February 2011 and June 2014.

Authorities in Los Angeles confirmed that the US contact was going to Money Service Businesses to collect the cash transfers. The US contact was being paid via cash transfer for each kilo of cocaine that he shipped to the UK and had shipped one or two packages per week to the UK, each believed to contain kilo quantities of cocaine.

At the hearing on 28 January Judge Niblett accepted an inference from the prosecution that over the course of the conspiracy between February 2011 and June 2014 an estimated £28.5 million of cocaine in street value had been imported into the UK overall.

Enquiries regarding the cash transfers culminated in several arrests in London. Five people - four women and a man - from North West and West London are now awaiting trial at Brighton Crown Court on 18 May this year, charged with money laundering the total of £259,352.94.