Police found the drugs after stopping a vehicle at Scotch Corner
Christopher Hobaiter, from Stockton, managed the drugs operation(Image: Cleveland Police)
A drugs trafficker who was extradited from Spain has appeared in court to be sentenced. Christopher Hobaiter was a leading figure in a drugs conspiracy which was smashed after police found £100,000 worth of cocaine in a courier’s car.
Hobaiter, 43, managed the logistics of moving high purity cocaine from Merseyside to Teesside. The Stockton drugs trafficker employed Ben Cousans, 46, as a courier to collect the large packages and drive them back over the Pennines.
On Wednesday, both men appeared at Teesside Crown Court to be sentenced for their roles in the drugs operation. Anthony Pettengell, prosecuting, told the court that cocaine – of 92% purity – was picked up by Cousans, in his Jaguar, between September 2023 and May 2024.
Hobaiter fled to Spain, the court heard, and directed Cousans on both “clean and dirty phones.” Officers from the North East Regional Organised Crime Unit, and Durham Police, stopped Cousans at Scotch Corner on May 22, 2024. He was on his sixth, and final, drugs run.
While Cousans was holed up in custody awaiting questioning, Hobaiter repeatedly tried to get in touch with him, Mr Pettengell added.
Ben Cousans, 46, was caught with £100,000 worth of cocaine
Police found a huge package of cocaine in the footwell of Cousans’ vehicle – estimated to be worth £100,000 when sold on the street. The drugs were bought and sold “on a commercial scale and many tens of thousands of pounds” were transferred to Hobaiter’s bank accounts, the court heard.
Hobaiter had driven to Alicante before his courier was arrested and the court heard that he was “at large” in Spain for some time before he was arrested. He spent 29 days in a Spanish prison before he was extradited; and he later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
In 2014, he was jailed for 30 months, after he was caught with over £28,000 of cocaine. In 2016, Hobaiter was back in court, after a house he rented out in Middlesbrough, was found to have dangerous levels of carbon monoxide leaking from a fire. He walked out of court with a suspended sentence.
Hobaiter leaving court in 2016
When Cousans was arrested at Scotch Corner, he told police that he had taken on the couriering job because he had a debt to pay off. He admitted conspiracy to supply cocaine at an earlier hearing.
Hobaiter’s barrister Robert Mochrie said that his client was not “at the top of the organisation – he is adamant that he was under the control of others.” Describing Hobaiter’s role as that akin to a “manager” in the drugs chain, Mr Mochrie said that Hobaiter “must now face the consequences for his decisions and he knows he will be serving a lengthy sentence.”
For Cousans, Stephen Constantine said that his client’s business had fallen into £60,000 worth of debt during Covid. References submitted to the court described Cousans, who is a dad, as “reliable, professional, hard working and community-minded.”
Judge Paul Reid jailed Hobaiter, of Linden Avenue in Stockton, for 12 years. Cousans, of Cradoc Grove in Ingleby Barwick, was was handed a four year sentence.
A proceeds of crime application was approved, as prosecutors look to confiscate illegal profits made from the drugs business.
Speaking after the result, North East Regional Organised Crime Unit Detective Inspector Simon Drenon, said: “This has been an excellent display of the specialist operations we’re carrying out on a regular basis to pursue offenders like Cousans and Hobaiter and bring them before a court. It has demonstrated the united stance we have in the North East, alongside our partners, to protect communities and tackle illegal drug operations – no matter their scale or where they try to hide.
“Having Class A drugs imported to the North East is incredible damaging to our communities. It can create harm and violence and profits from these sales fund wider organised crimes like child sexual abuse and modern slavery. Under the banner of Operation Sentinel, our united regional approach to tackling Serious and Organised crime in all forms, we’ll continue to work with partners to pursue suspects and protect the public.”
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