"British Drug Lord Called 'Europe's El Chapo' Tied to US Investigation of Maduro in £216 Million Cocaine Case"

A BRITISH drugs kingpin dubbed “Europe’s El Chapo” is at the centre of the vast US probe into captured narco dictator Nicolas Maduro.

Robert Dawes, 53, was jailed for 22 years in over the smuggling of 32 suitcases packed with on a flight from Venezuela to .

Dawes became an international Mr Big after starting a petty crime career aged 11 Maduro blindfolded and in handcuffs while being shipped to NYC detention centreCredit: X Dawes could become a person of interest in the Maduro probeCredit: Getty Dawes was jailed for 22 years in 2018, and investigators are still tracking his money trail which may span over 60 countries

And details relating to the same have now appeared in the US indictment against snatched Venezuelan president Maduro.

Maduro is said to have blasted henchmen at the time for bungling the shipment which cost his alleged state-run cartel millions.

And now look certain to make him a “person of interest” as US Department of Justice probe into Maduro, 63, and his 69-year-old wife Cilia Flores.

The became an international Mr Big after starting a petty crime career aged 11 in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Notts.

He is serving a whole life term for ordering the murder of the innocent schoolteacher brother of a woman he believed had double-crossed him over a drug stash.

Associates of Dawes revealed he was “living in fear” and last night fearing he will be killed if he tells all to US investigators.

A source said: “He is in a maximum-security but knows he is vulnerable because of his links to the Venezuelan cartels so he won’t be talking to the Americans.”

Dawes is reported to be aware that he could be silenced by an assassin behind bars and told a member of his inner circle: “They would kill me in jail.”

The British crimelord is known to have met Venezuelan henchmen from the “Cartel of the Suns” trafficking network which American investigators say was controlled by Maduro.

Maduro and his wife were captured and spirited out of Venezuelan capital Caracas on January 3 by US special forces troops acting on the orders of President .

Dawes is linked to the US case against Maduro by his conviction in a French court over one of the biggest ever seizures of cocaine flown from Venezuela in September, 2013.

French authorities intercepted 1.2 tons of cocaine at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in 32 suitcases in the hold of an Air France flight from Venezuela’s Maiquetía Airport.

The huge consignment had been checked in by traffickers under the names of passengers who were unaware of their contents.

Dawes had been on the radar of Spanish Civil Guard investigators since 2007 for running huge drug rings moving cocaine all over from South America and heroin from Afghanistan.

And Spanish investigators unearthed key evidence linking him to Maduro’s alleged cartel as he was caught boasting about the scale of the 2013 shipment.

In a recording obtained by the Spanish Civil Guard at the Villa Magna Hotel in in September 2015, Dawes crowed: “It’s the biggest they’ve ever had.”

Dawes had been on the radar of Spanish Civil Guard investigators since 2007 The kingpin was arrested in Spain in 2015 for trafficking 1.3 tonnes of cocaine into EuropeCredit: Guardia Civil The shipment was found spread across 32 suitcasesCredit: Guardia Civil Dawes was one of the biggest drug suppliers in EuropeCredit: agrupacionahumada/youtube

And asked whether the cocaine belonged to him, the Briton boasted: “Yes, from Venezuela.”

This confession, captured via listening devices, secured Dawes’ conviction in France but evidence and could now prove crucial in the case against Maduro.

Details appear in the indictment from the Southern District of against Maduro alleging he conspired to export cocaine between 1999 and 2025.

The indictment says that following the 2013 seizure, Maduro demanded a meeting with thuggish interior minister henchman Diosdado Cabello and intelligence chief Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal.

During the meeting, he blasted the pair’s decision for sending the drugs from Maiquetía Airport, which was said to be on the radar of security forces after a seizure in in 2006.

Soon after, according to the US judicial indictment, Maduro and his gang ordered the arrest of Venezuelan military officials to divert attention away from their own involvement.

Robert Dawes was arrested by Spanish police Guns cash and drugs were among the seized items in the raidCredit: Guardia Civil The British crimelord is known to have met Venezuelan henchmen from the “Cartel of the Suns” trafficking networkCredit: Guardia Civil

Robert Dawes – dubbed “Europe’s El Chapo” after the Mexican narco supremo Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman – rose from petty theft in Nottingham to the peak of an vast drugs empire.

His criminal record in the comprises 17 convictions for 59 offences dating back to 1983, when he was 11 years old.

He was arrested on the Costa del Sol in November 2015 but released by a judge and fled to , from where he continued to mastermind his trafficking network.

Investigators said Dawes used BlackBerry phones with sophisticated encryption systems and would only speak to contacts with an identical device to thwart eavesdropping.

But he was caught out when Spain’s Civil Guard installed microphones in three hotel cafes in Madrid where he was caught bragging about his Venezuelan connections.

Dawes was sentenced to life imprisonment in January last year for ordering the cold-blooded murder of innocent Dutch teacher Gerard Meesters in 2002.

Following the raid on the Costa del Sol in November 2015 he was arrestedCredit: Guardia Civil Guns, cash and encrypted mobile phones were seized when Dawes villa was raidedCredit: Guardia Civil

Meesters, 52, was shot dead at his home in Groningen, Holland by Dawes’s British hitman Daniel Sowerby.

A Dutch court was told the victim had no connection with Dawes’ criminal organisation.

But evil Dawes ordered the murder to send a warning to the teacher’s sister, who the crime kingpin believed had hidden money or drugs.

No evidence has been presented of direct contact between Dawes and Maduro – but the Briton is believed to have been close to corrupt Venezuelan government officials.

Dawes was transferred from jail in France to serve a whole life term in a maximum security prison in Holland.

The US Department of Justice was contacted for comment yesterday.