UK NEWS

FORMER COP WALKS FREE IN DRUG SMUGGLING TRIAL

Saturday April 19,2008

By Stephen Wilkie

A FORMER policeman has been cleared of a massive international cocaine smuggling plot.

Douglas Fleming, 43, had been accused of trafficking millions of pounds’ worth of the drug from Colombia through Antwerp, Belgium.

He walked free from the High Court in Glasgow yesterday after a jury found the charges against him not proven.

Wealthy Fleming, of Langbank, Renfrewshire, who owned a construction firm and a property development company, was the target of a two-year undercover operation.

Plain-clothes officers from Scotland’s Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency trailed Fleming to Antigua, in the West Indies, where he met alleged drug smuggler Martin Toner.

Toner, 34, of Glasgow, was tortured and his body was dumped in a field, near Langbank, in 2004 following underworld rumours he was about to turn Queen’s Evidence. Fleming admitted knowing Toner, but said their common interest was property. Fleming denied having anything to do with drugs.

An undercover Belgian detective told the court he infiltrated a multi-million-pound drugs operation and was recommended to Colombian cartel barons as a fixer in Antwerp.

The detective alleged Fleming arrived in Antwerp on October 29, 2001, to discuss how the drugs could be removed from the container and how to bring in further loads. The undercover policeman was part of Operation Backslider, which targeted Fleming and others including Toner, who used the alias “Tom”.

The officer alleged Fleming – whom he he knew as Ben – contacted him about importing a container of drugs.

A Colombian drug dealer said he saw 200 kilos of cocaine being loaded into a container allegedly for “Ben” and others.

Fleming was cleared of smuggling cocaine with Toner and others. A second charge of being concerned in the supply of the drug was also not proven.

Co-accused James Cameron, 49, of Springburn, Glasgow, was found not guilty of being concerned in the supply of cocaine.

He was stopped by police in a Glasgow taxi and found to have £65,000 of cocaine in a plastic bag. He said he believed the bag held steroid diet supplements.

Detective Chief Inspector John Cuddihy, 42, told the court that the initial probe targeted Fleming and Toner, but their surveillance moved to the Caribbean in June 2001.

Toner and another man booked flights to Antigua the day after Fleming arrived and on June 19 Fleming and Toner were approached by a man in a baseball hat, T-shirt and shorts, who shook their hands.

Later the same day Toner and the other man boarded a UK flight and were seen off by Fleming.

Strathclyde Police are still working on the Martin Toner murder case. A reward has been offered for information leading to the killers.