Andrew Doran, 42, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to cocaine importation charges at Newcastle Crown Court. Doran was extradited to the UK to face drugs allegations and was arrested by Spanish police in southern Spain after a National Crime Agency (NCA) appeal earlier this year. He was returned to the UK in October last year by specialist National Extradition Unit officers. The NCA said Doran used the encrypted communications platform EncroChat to discuss his offending under the handle “jurgensixnineteen”. Investigators also identified him in Spain after he posted details of a jog in Estepona on Strava under an alias, and that some contacts saved the handle using nicknames linked to his appearance. At court, Doran admitted his role in a plan to smuggle cocaine from the Netherlands into the UK hidden in empty gas canisters. The containers were reportedly cut open, welded shut after the drugs were placed inside, and then repainted. The NCA said that between October 2019 and April 2020, 12 gas bottles were collected by vehicles from Chatham, Corby, Northampton, Peterborough and also locations in the area of Chatham in Kent, with each bottle containing between 12 and 16 kilos of cocaine. The total was 172 kilos. The vehicles also carried hidden compartments, which the NCA says were used to transport money as well as drugs. Investigators said Doran worked closely with Kevin Taylor, 44, from Newcastle upon Tyne, who was jailed for 27 years in September 2025. The NCA said Doran liaised with international contacts, including criminals in the Netherlands, to facilitate imports. It also said Doran instructed Taylor to collect and move cash from drug sales in the North East and organise transfers south and abroad using a “token” system based on banknote serial numbers. Operation Venetic was described by the NCA as its response to the takedown of the EncroChat service in June 2020. The NCA said the drugs imported in the gas canisters, along with additional cocaine planned for import from the Netherlands, had an estimated street value of £18 million. The NCA said Doran’s extradition showed that criminals overseas can still be prosecuted in the UK.