United States Drug Enforcement Administration

NEWARK, N.J - Robert G. Koval, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New Jersey Division of the Drug Enforcement (DEA) and Paul J. Fishman, the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, announced an extradited British national today admitted his role in an organization that smuggled cocaine aboard commercial airlines from the West Indies to England via the United States.

Prine George Alfonso Jones, a/k/a “Prince,” 47, of Birmingham, Great Britain, pleaded guilty to an information charging him with conspiracy to import and to export cocaine. Jones was arrested on Feb. 4, 2009, in Great Britain, for allegedly transporting narcotics directly from St. Lucia to Great Britain. Jones was extradited from Great Britain and had his initial appearance on narcotics conspiracy charges in December 2012.

According to documents filed in this and related cases and statements in court:

Jones was involved in an organization whose members included Nigel Roberts, a/k/a “Skang,” another British national who previously pleaded guilty to related charges. The organization acquired cocaine in Jamaica and St. Lucia, concealed it in luggage, and provided that cocaine-filled luggage to drug couriers, who transported it by commercial airlines to Great Britain after making intermediate stops in the United States. Jones admitted to his role as a British operative of the organization who would provide transport to drug couriers and the narcotics that they smuggled.

Today’s guilty plea stems from a multi-jurisdictional and international investigation into narcotics trafficking that has resulted in multiple narcotics seizures and the charging of 14 individuals to date. Jones is the 14th member of this international cocaine trafficking ring to have pleaded guilty in the District of New Jersey.

The conspiracy charge to which Jones pleaded guilty is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and $1 million fine. Sentencing is scheduled for July 8, 2013.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Robert G. Koval; U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security (HSI), under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Andrew M. McLees; and, in coordination with police officers of the West Midlands Police Complex Casework Unit in Birmingham, England, for the investigation leading to today’s plea. U.S. Attorney Fishman also thanked the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs for its assistance in obtaining Jones’s extradition.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric W. Moran of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Trenton.