Inside the common-or-garden automobile wash allotting cocaine in a sleepy UK village
Residents of Spellbrook in Hertfordshire were left shocked when a carwash was revealed to be a secret front for an organised international crime gang holding cocaine
An unassuming car wash tucked away in a sleepy village was secretly a front for an organised crime gang.
Residents of Spellbrook in Hertfordshire were left shocked after Spellbrook Hand Car Wash was revealed by cops to be a cover for a drug smuggling ring where criminals stashed away a massive £4.2million lump of cocaine. Police also found £31,700 in cash following an investigation led by the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU).
The carwash received good reviews from locals for its service, but eventually proved to be hiding what Judge HHJ Mann called a “highly sophisticated” operation.
Parcels of cocaine were dropped to the gang from a plane that managed to avoid radar systems after departing from northern France. At least three flights were organised.
Then, now jailed Martynas Piecia, 37, or Rolandas Bauza, a 47-year-old who was found with the cash, would drive to pick them up.
Bauza was arrested at the car wash site in September last year, along with Arjan Lisaj 33. A relative of Lisaj owned the car wash.
Piecia was also arrested close by.
Tomas Bauza was detained by ERSOU officers at his brothers home on the same day. At that property, authorities found 54kg of cocaine, along with signs the house had been used to produce cannabis.
“They went to great lengths to hide their illicit activities, and today’s result follows a huge amount of police work to capture evidence during our investigation,” said ERSOU Detective Inspector Barker.
He also said according to the BBC: “These men were entirely motivated by greed and paid no regard to the significant damage that class A drugs cause in our communities.”
Piecia was jailed for 15 years and seven months, Rolandas Bauza for 14 years and seven months and Lisaj for seven years. All three men pleaded guilty to being concerned in the importation and supply of controlled drugs into the UK.
Tomas Bauza was cleared of importation, but found guilty of supplying drugs. He was jailed for 10 years.
Following significant jail sentences for the four, locals have expressed their shock.
Dog-walker Penny Walmsley said the men not involved in the crime were “really lovely”.
“I’m on my own here and I’ve had a couple of people who’ve made me feel uncomfortable and they’ve always helped me,’ she said the Mail Online. “I knew that the guys I speak to had nothing to do with it because they were all back working here the next day.”
The car wash is now under new management. One man said he had taken over the business for a friend in Albania he said had worked there since 2017, but knew nothing about what was going on.
He said he was “very upset” with the story and is concerned customers wrongly attribute the crimes to them. The man also said the drugs were located in an office he did not have access to.
It is not clear if the Bauza brothers and Piecia brothers worked at the car wash, but Lisaj is known to have done.
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