GLAMOROUS couple who funded a lavish lifestyle with the profits from Britain’s biggest chemsex drug network were today jailed for a total of 26 years.
Brazilian husband and wife crime team Diego Da Souza Arruda Reis, 35, and Suellen Miguez, 36, made millions from their sophisticated drug business.
The couple utilised technology to provide a dial-for-drugs delivery service with dozens of moped couriers dubbed the ‘Asphalt Angels,’ who were organised into different WhatsApp groups.
Reis and his chemsex drug queen Miguez oversaw the organised crime network (OCN) through trusted lieutenants and stayed hands-off from the day to day running.
The couple rented a £12,500-a-month mansion on the exclusive private estate of St George’s Hill in Weybridge, Surrey, a haven for Russian oligarchs, Arab oil tycoons and VIPs.
The owners of the property were unaware of any wrongdoing.
They lived in the seven-bedroom neo-Regency pile which boasted a swimming pool, luxury gym and spa facilities.
The private estate has its own security as well as lawn tennis courts and a championship golf course.
The couple also had a Central London riverside apartment, drove an orange Lamborghini sports car and took luxury holidays abroad.
Miguez had a Harrods account and blew a fortune shopping in designer stores like Pravda and Louis Vuitton.
Judge Nigel Seed, QC, jailed Miguez and Arruda Reis for 13 years each at Inner London Crown Court today.
After the couple were jailed, the Met’s Detective Constable Gary Smith said: “Their new surroundings at Her Majesty’s Pleasure must have come as a shock to the system.”
Police seized drugs worth more than £3million when they smashed the gang of Brazilian nationals supplying London’s clubland and gay chemsex scene.
LAVISH LIFESTYLE
More than 2,000 litres of potentially lethal GBL, worth £2.2million and the biggest ever seizure of the drug in the UK, was recovered from a storage facility.
And almost £1million worth of other drugs including crystal meth, cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine, heroin, LSD and cannabis, were also seized.
Reis and Miguez came to Britain in 2014 and used a variety of fake identities while setting up their drug business.
They rented three short-let Airbnb properties at a time, referred to as ‘A,’ ‘B,’ and ‘C,’ which were used as daily bases.
The drugs were moved into the bases in suitcases from self-storage lock-ups around London before being returned each evening after the close of trading.
Drugs were advertised through social media to customers on a daily menu with a price list, and orders were taken and dropped off in Deliveroo style.
A squad of 30 moped riders, all with individual numbers, collected drugs from bases, where they were packaged into sealed grey envelopes.
The £730-a-week drivers dropped off the innocent-looking drugs packages to customers.
They then took the cash back to base in the envelopes – and were fined if they were late.
A credit card receiver machine was also used for taking payments.
Drivers were told to be polite at all times to customers and even to have good posture in a 10-page manual given to all staff.
The guide stated: “The aim of the company is to be number one.
“We count on your professionalism to achieve that and always grow in income, and that way increase your salary and bonuses.”
Spreadsheets recovered by police showed that between 2016 and 2018 the gang sold more than £2.5million worth of drugs.
But their downfall came when the Met’s Specialist Crime South team launched an investigation after receiving intelligence about a drug phone line used by the OCN.
A moped rider was stopped by police in a purported routine traffic stop to avoid the gang becoming suspicious about the tail on them.
A phone seized from the driver had a mine of information about the drug network on its WhatsApp.
Police were staggered by the level of organisation.
Det Constable Smith said: “They ran it very much as a business. They had spreadsheets and weekly ideas meetings.
“There were ideas for the day, where they discussed the business. The husband and wife at the top saw themselves as legitimate business people.
“They rented a house in St George’s Hill, Weybridge, and drove around in a flamboyant orange Lamborghini.
“They very much lived a lifestyle of successful business people who made a lot of money.
“They had holidays to the Greek islands and took other members of the OCN.
“They had Harrods accounts and everything you would associate with money.”
He added: “Their lives will now dramatically change as they spend many years in prison.”
sunit
