James Mulvey is an illicit drug smuggler originally from Solihull.[1]
The gang smuggled illicit drugs inside hollow industrial rollers on truck from Belgium, through England to the Republic of Ireland.[1] The investigation began when a Belgian warehouse worker noticed that the same rollers kept returning to the depot.[1] Once the connection to England was found, Belgian police notified their counterparts there.[1] In 2007 rollers were seized by Gardaí seized the rollers on an industrial estate in Dublin.[1] Several people were arrested and jailed but Mulvey moved to Spain shortly before arrests.[1]
To evade law enforcement, James Mulvey rarely stayed in the same place for long.[1] He used hotels for several years, paid in cash and used burner phones.[1] He also didn't use bank accounts.[1]
In 2012 his father fell ill and Mulvey returned to the UK.[1]
He was arrested in Kaunas in 2017 by Lithuanian special forces after being tracked there by the National Crime Agency.[1]
During his trial evidence from nine countries and two ex-girlfriends were offered in evidence.[1]
In June 2018 he was jailed for his part in an attempt to smuggle £68 million of cocaine and cannabis into the UK between 2006 and 2007.[1]
He was jailed for 32 years.
His cousin Gerard "Hatchet" Kavanagh was also one of his business partners.[2]
In June 2018 British police were searching for €7.5 million of missing money out of €77 million.[2]