Philip Doo, 52, and Christopher Wiggins, 42, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply of cocaine from South America

Philip Doo, 52, and Christopher Wiggins, 42, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply of cocaine from South America believed to be worth more than 650 million euro (£580 million).Doo, from Devon, and Wiggins, based in the Costa del Sol in Spain, pleaded guilty at a brief hearing in Cork Circuit Criminal Court.
The pair were detained after Irish navy, gardai and customs swooped on the 60ft ocean-going boat, Dances With Waves, 170 miles off the west Cork coast last November.Intelligence agencies had tracked the boat for two months across the Atlantic.A third man, David Mufford, of Torquay, Devon, is also accused of being involved in the smuggling operation and will be brought before the court on Monday to enter a plea.The two men spoke quietly in soft English accents as they entered their guilty pleas in the packed courtroom.Doo, of Higher Manor Road, Brixham, wore a dark sweatshirt and lowered his balding head. Wiggins, of Estepona, Malaga, wore a pair of glasses and dark checked shirt.The two drug smugglers showed no emotion as they were led away by prison guards.Judge Patrick J Moran remanded them in custody to be sentenced on May 8.

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100 British citizens living in Spain are suspected of using the false paperwork to obtain bank credit, mostly mortgages, of up to 1.5 million euros

100 British citizens living in Spain are suspected of using the false paperwork to obtain bank credit, mostly mortgages, of up to 1.5 million euros (£1.4m) each.Detectives believe the gang's activities may have defrauded 25 financial institutions in Spain of around 60 million euros (£56m) in total."It was a perfectly structured organisation, capable of successfully producing all types of fake documents, including a vast range of clients and able to set up a full network of collaborators, which meant a high volume of fake documents were generated - more than 1,000 documents in three months," police in Alicante said.The investigation began in early 2007 after police spotted websites offering fake driving licenses, residence permits, birth certificates, academic qualifications and other official documents.They arrested two men and a woman, all Britons, in May 2007 and seized equipment for producing fake documents plus guns and ammunition in raids on two properties.Another 50 people have been arrested in various regions of Spain since mid-2008 and the operation is still continuing.
Two of those, identified by Spanish police by their initials AK and DM, were located last November after appeals from the Crimestoppers charity and the Serious and Organised Crime Agency in the UK.The investigation also led to the identification of a British man who was wanted for a murder in Malaga.Police believe he may have fled to Britain using fake documents supplied by the gang.Spanish authorities have also provided information to Europol on more than 1,000 people in 26 countries who are suspected of obtaining false paperwork from the group.

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