A notorious British crime boss known as 'The One' was allegedly involved in a record-breaking cocaine importation scheme with the deposed Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, according to a bombshell US indictment.
The Paris Plot: A £216 Million Cocaine Shipment
Robert Dawes, a crime lord from Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence in France for masterminding the plot. US prosecutors now assert that Maduro himself had a direct hand in the conspiracy to traffic 1.3 tonnes of cocaine, valued at approximately £216 million.
The illicit cargo was smuggled aboard an Air France flight from Caracas to Paris's Charles-de-Gaulle airport in September 2013. The drugs were concealed inside 31 suitcases that were not registered to any passengers on the flight, indicating likely collusion with security services at Maiquetia Airport in the Venezuelan capital.
Following the seizure of the drugs in Paris – the largest such haul in France at the time – Maduro allegedly convened an emergency meeting with two senior officials: Diosdado Cabello Rondón, now Venezuela's Minister of the Interior, and Hugo Carvajal Barrios, the former head of military intelligence.
Cover-Up and International Fallout
The US Department of Justice indictment claims Maduro instructed his associates to avoid using the airport for future trafficking and to instead utilise other established drug routes. He then allegedly authorised the arrest of several Venezuelan military officials to divert scrutiny from his own involvement in the shipment and its subsequent cover-up.
Venezuelan authorities arrested 22 people in connection with the seizure, including eight National Guard members and nine Air France and airport staff. The 25-page US indictment concludes that Maduro and his co-conspirators have, for decades, partnered with violent drug traffickers to distribute tons of cocaine to the United States.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured in a surprise raid by US special forces in Caracas and are now detained at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in New York. They face multiple charges, including conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism and importing cocaine.
The Rise and Fall of 'The One'
The British figure at the heart of this international scandal, Robert Dawes, was recorded by law enforcement in 2014 boasting about the Paris shipment. In a Madrid hotel conversation with Colombian drug traffickers, he stated: "You know the big one in Paris in all the luggage... that was mine."
Dawes, a married grandfather, evaded justice for years, earning the nickname the "Teflon Don." He built a vast criminal network with associates in over 50 countries. His criminal career began young, with his first conviction at age 11, and he amassed 17 convictions for offences including robbery, drugs, and assault.
After fleeing to Spain in 2001, his luck ran out when he was arrested at a luxury resort in Benalmádena in 2015. Following his French sentence for the cocaine plot, he was jailed for life in the Netherlands last year for ordering the 2002 murder of an innocent school teacher, Gerard Meesters, in Groningen – a killing prosecutors say was meant solely to instil fear in others.
Maduro, 63, has pleaded not guilty to all charges, denouncing his arrest as a kidnapping and accusing former US President Donald Trump of seeking Venezuela's oil. The extraordinary operation has ignited a global debate on international law, with some experts questioning the uniqueness of the charges against the deposed leader.
