Semi-pro footballers’ £260m cocaine empire brought crashing down like ‘house of cards’

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The squad of six were dismantled after one of their teammates was found with a holdall containing eight kilos of Class A drugs, Police captured Luke Skeete, 26, as he drove a small panel van packed with eight kilos of Class A drugs, bringing the criminal network crashing down like a “house of cards”, police said. He was arrested in September last year and his phone was picked apart by specialists who discovered a secure messaging app linking him to teammates Shaquille Hippolyte-Patrick, 29, Jamarl Joseph, 28, Adam Pepara, 35, Andrew Harewood, 34, and Melchi Emanuel-Williamson, 29. open image in gallery Luke Skeete, Jamarl Joseph, Shaquille Hippolyte-Patrick, Adam Pepara, Andrew Harewood and Melchi Emanuel-Williamson. On 28 September 2023, Specialist Crime officers carried out arrest warrants at addresses linked to the group in London and Birmingham At Isleworth Crown Court, Skeete, of Evergreen Drive, West Drayton, and Chesham United forward Hippolyte-Patrick, of Delgarno Gardens, North Kensington, received 13 years and one month and 18 years and nine months respectively for their roles. Police Constable Perry, from Specialist Crime North, said: “The operation we’ve dismantled here is not some minor undertaking, involving a group of chancers – this is a highly organised criminal group who were supplying drugs on an industrial scale throughout the UK.