A COKE dealer who claimed he looked like James Bond was snared by cops after revealing his location by posting a jog on Strava.
Andrew Doran, 42, was part of an audacious plot to smuggle a whopping 172kg of cocaine into the country hidden in gas canisters.
Andrew Doran was arrested by Spanish police after a National Crime Agency appeal earlier this year Credit: National Crime Agency
Doran boldly claimed he looked like James Bond actor Daniel Craig Credit: Alamy
He thought he bore a resemblance to the iconic 007 secret agent when sharing his supposed doppelganger on social media.
But Doran turned out to be no James Bond, and was caught by police hiding out in Spain after he posted a jogging route on the fitness app Strava under an alias.
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The details of the route in Estepona, Spain helped the National Crime Agency track the apparent wannabe secret agent down to his Iberian hideout.
He was arrested in Spain and then extradited to the UK in October last year.
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Packages of what appeared to be compressed cocaine that was seized Credit: National Crime Agency
Doran, the self proclaimed Bond lookalike, was sentenced to 18 years in prison last week Credit: Alamy
Doran, from Kirkby in Merseyside, admitted to drugs importation charges at Newcastle Crown Court in December.
Last week he was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Doran had pleadeed guilty to his part in smuggling the huge quantities of coke from the Netherlands to the UK.
The court heard that the drugs were packed into gas canisters.
Twelve of the canisters were collected from locations in Chatham, Kent, Corby and Northampton and Peterborough between October 2019 and April 2020.
Each bottle was packed with up to 16 kilos of coke, with 172kg seized in total.
Doran commanded international criminals in the Netherlands and Kevin Taylor, 44, from Newcastle upon Tyne, to orchestrate the plot.
He also gave orders to Taylor to shift huge amounts of cash from drug sales from the North East to the South and abroad.
Taylor was sentenced to 27 years behind bars in September last year.
Another foiled plot of Doran’s saw him arrange the importation of 42 kilos of cocaine from the Netherlands between March and June 2020.
The combined street value of both schemes was estimated at £18million.
NCA branch commander Gavin Heckles sent a warning to other Brits on the run abroad that they are “not beyond our reach”.
He said: “Andrew Doran had a central role in this plot, telling criminal associates at home and overseas how the drugs should be transported and distributed once in the UK.
“His extradition shows that criminals living in Spain are not beyond our reach, and we will never relent in securing justice.
“Class A drugs like cocaine cause huge amounts of harm to communities across the UK, and create violence and exploitation at every level.
“We will continue to work with partners at home and abroad to pursue the criminal networks behind this trade and protect the public.”
