Pubdate: Sun, July 11 1999 Source: Sunday Times (UK) Copyright: 1999 Times Newspapers Ltd. Contact: http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/ FORMULA ONE LINKED TO COCAINE SMUGGLING FORMULA ONE racing has been linked to cocaine smuggling amid allegations that grand prix cars may have been used to conceal drugs as they are transported around the world. Customs officers revealed last week that they have been monitoring the movement of Formula One personnel and equipment through Dover. Officers say they were tipped off by an informant in the motor racing world 18 months ago. The disclosure follows an earlier inquiry by Scotland Yard drug squad detectives. Codenamed Operation Equipment, their investigation was sparked by details given by two informants that individuals within F1 were using the sport as cover for international drug trafficking. Two of the detectives involved told Insight that racing cars and their containers have allegedly been used to conceal cocaine. They say traffickers allegedly took advantage of the shipment of vehicles as cover to bring drugs into Britain and the Continent from South America. The drugs were believed to have been stashed in car parts and equipment and then placed in containers which were transported across the world. "Formula One teams do a lot of practice in Spain, Portugal and France. Stuff might be coming through there and then into Britain," said a source. At one point in their inquiries, Scotland Yard detectives considered putting an undercover policeman inside Formula One. They planned to ask Nigel Mansell, the former British world champion and a special police constable, to help them get their man in. Mansell said last week he was unable to comment. The wife of one well-known British driver revealed that she saw "white packages", believed to be cocaine, being put inside a container in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. She said that F1 transporters were rarely searched: "After all, these guys are heroes. All anyone wants is an autograph. The containers were used to ship all sorts of goods. I saw white packages loaded into a container. I guessed it was cocaine," she said. Jackie Oliver, the former grand prix driver, said he was aware of an inquiry into alleged trafficking. He said F1 equipment had been seized on its way back from South America. "They pounced on all the equipment coming back from the Brazilian Grand Prix and held it up for days in customs while they went through everything with a fine tooth comb. We all complied and gave them full access and they got their sniffer dogs and went round everything - and never found anything." A third source close to several F1 teams said he had heard that containers had been secretly used to transport drugs and money, adding that he had been interviewed by police about their investigation. Customs officials in Dover confirmed last week they had recently received instructions from head office in London to monitor Formula One teams and their equipment as they entered this country. "We have previously been successful in finding drugs in vehicles associated with motor sport, and Formula One teams using the port will be treated to the same level of scrutiny," said Nigel Knott, customs spokesman for southeast England. "When you're talking about 15-metre trailers, the potential for hiding drugs is phenomenal. And there is more than one vehicle per team." There are at least 11 competing Formula One teams, each with more than a 100 members. Along with scores of hangers-on, hundreds of people have access to grand prix cars and their containers. Police sources say the high-profile nature of some teams makes it easier for them to travel unhindered across international borders. They suspect a number of rogue individuals have taken advantage of this. One of the men named by their informants is a convicted cocaine smuggler with links to figures in F1. Last week the man, a London businessman, told The Sunday Times he was aware he had been under surveillance and that he had complained to Scotland Yard that he had been harassed and threatened by police. Describing the allegations of a cocaine link to F1 as a "complete fairytale", he said he believed police had tried to entrap him in a "sting" operation involving hidden cameras. It is not the first time that motor racing has been implicated in drugs trafficking. In 1990 Johnny Herbert, the Formula One driver, told the Old Bailey he had been unwittingly sponsored by a man who, it turned out, had masterminded a pounds 18m cannabis smuggling ring. Paul Newman, a London businessman, had his own box at Brands Hatch and used his drugs profits to set up two motor racing teams. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Herbert told the trial he did not realise there was any drugs connection. The Scotland Yard inquiry into Formula One was inconclusive but its existence was confirmed by Derek Todd, the former head of its central drugs squad. Duncan MacLaughlin, a former drugs squad detective in charge of the investigation, also revealed that allegations from within the motor racing world had been made that F1 was being used as a front for cocaine trafficking. It is believed that Bernie Ecclestone, the boss of Formula One, became aware of the inquiry 18 months ago after news of the operation started circulating within F1. MacLaughlin said Ecclestone had telephoned him in November 1997 to offer full co-operation. During Operation Equipment, police travelled to Los Angeles in 1995 to liaise with drug enforcement officers about an investigation there into money-laundering and F1. Scotland Yard has also made inquiries in Tokyo where evidence emerged of a possible link between some F1 individuals and drugs money laundering for the Japanese mafia, the Yakuza. MacLaughlin left the Metropolitan police last year and now runs a security consultancy that numbers Damon Hill, the former British world champion, among its clients. Ecclestone declined to discuss the affair last week. But an aide said: "He did not have any knowledge or evidence that individuals within F1 were doing anything of the sort [drug smuggling]. If he had information or evidence, he would have taken it to the police." Scotland Yard said this weekend that drug operations were now the responsibility of the National Crime Squad. A spokesman for the squad said: "We do not discuss our ongoing inquiries." A 32-year-old Royal Navy serviceman was being questioned by police yesterday on suspicion of manslaughter after an accident at Silverstone motor racing circuit that left one man dead. The accident happened when an open-top MG sports car drove onto the grand prix circuit, then spun off and overturned. Three men managed to crawl free, but a fourth died at the scene. The driver was later arrested. The man who died, aged 35, had not been named last night at his family's request. He was based at the Royal Naval Air Station at Yeovilton in Somerset and came from Salisbury. A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence confirmed that the other three, including the man who has been arrested, were from 771 Squadron, based at RNAS Culdrose in Helston, Cornwall. The accident happened just before 11pm on Friday night. The driver and the other two men, aged 36 and 40, were later taken to Northampton General Hospital and were discharged after treatment for minor injuries. The driver was then arrested and taken to Daventry police station for questioning. The men had all been off duty and were there as spectators, the MoD said. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea