A FORMER Love Island star played a "key role" in a £53m drugs conspiracy that was smashed thanks to a police investigation that began in Cumbria.
As a “financial controller” for the Dubai based drugs cartel, 30-year-old Magdalena Sadlo became the operation’s business brain, calling herself “Barbie” as she presided over online chats with drug bosses, Carlisle Crown Court heard.
She created spread sheets to monitor drug stock levels, cash flows, and debts, “enthusiastically” encouraging violence to enforce debts, it is claimed.
In one online chat, the court heard, Sadlo told a cartel member: “The Devil works hard – but Barbie works harder.”
Sadlo, from Bracknell, Berkshire, is a former Love Island contestant who appeared in Poland’s version of the hit television show.
She was arrested early last year as she returned to the UK “first class” on a flight from Dubai and was carrying a jewellery box containing a £130,000 rose gold Patek Phillipe watch, a £30,000 Rolex and Cartier bracelets and rings – part of an effort to launder the gang’s criminal cash, say prosecutors.
Sadlo admits conspiring to supply cocaine, ketamine and cannabis, as well as money laundering. She had been due to be sentenced with two fellow conspirators on Friday but now faces a further hearing to determine how involved she was.
Sentence was passed on Gary Gittins, 43, (below).
He allowed his Hindley Green home in Wigan to be used as a “distribution” hub for kilo quantity deliveries of cocaine, worth an estimated £17.5m, as well a collection point for the cash profits from the dealing.
Mark Knowles, 41, (below) was another trusted “warehouser” of the imported cocaine. The three defendants are the latest criminals to face justice for their role in the drugs conspiracy, the largest ever linked to Cumbria.
The drugs plot began to unravel after police caught Windermere-based Reece Barnes, 32, taking delivery of a 1kg consignment of cocaine.
Detectives believe he was dealing between March 2022 until February the following year, handling an estimated 14 kilos of cocaine within Cumbria. He ran a commercial dealing operation in the county.
He was one of the cartel’s “regional retailers” in what Mr Evans said became an “Amazon style” drugs business that allowed high-level importers to cooperate so they could distribute cocaine more effectively to regional dealers.
Ten people have already been sentenced for their roles in the operation. Much of the latest hearing focused on Sadlo’s role.
Dealing with her first set of offences, relating to the cocaine conspiracy, Mr Evans said: “She operated both as a courier, meeting directly the importers of the relevant cocaine, and moving cocaine around within the UK.
“In addition to that, she was unique amongst the couriers in that she was involved directly with the Dubai end of the supply chain.”
Examples of her courier work included the 1kg cocaine delivery which went to Barnes (pictured below with his drugs) in Windermere on February 4, 2023.
Mr Evans said: “It was Magdalena Sadlo who brought the 33kg cocaine importation from Harwich, Essex, up to the Greater Manchester area and in particular the Prestwich Street safe house before it was moved and distributed to various locations in the Northwest before the ultimate stop in Windermere.”
The barrister described Sadlo’s various trips in her BMW to collect or deliver drugs. In March 2023, she delivered 19 kilos of cocaine to an address in Manchester. She also visited Liverpool, Blackpool, Burnley, Leicester and Leeds.
She left the UK on May 25 following the arrest of two of her co-conspirators. She was arrested as she returned to the UK on Tuesday February 13, 2024, having booked a 1st class seat on an Emirates flight from Dubai.
She was carrying three mobile phones, a laptop, and a jewellery box, in which police found the £200,000 worth of watches and jewellery.
“Watches are an increasingly common method used to seek to launder the proceeds of drug dealing,” said Mr Evans. Sadlo claimed she had collected the watches for somebody in the UK but she refused to say who.
“Sadlo sits at the top of the driver courier role with an additional element of organisational awareness,” said Mr Evans.
Read more: £53m drugs plot with Cumbrian link was 'Amazon-style' operation
The barrister then outlined how Sadlo used her “business acumen” – outlined on her CV – to support the highest-level drugs criminals in the Dubai cartel, which was peddling ketamine and cannabis as well as cocaine.
On her laptop, police found “detailed criminal accounting” in spreadsheets, which demonstrated the scale of the drugs supply.
Mr Evans said: “All of these factors show her to be highly trusted and operating at the highest level. She had shown herself…to be in direct contact with the Dubai consortium in contrast to other ‘simple’ couriers.”
On her iPhone, detectives found evidence of conversations with cartel contacts, including “Roger Rabbit,” with references to kilo quantities of cocaine, and large sums of cash, including £250,000 and £180,000.
She was a “key player” in a cartel chat group called “ACCOUNTS,” said Mr Evans.
Referring to herself as "Barbie," Sadlo repeatedly showed herself to be an “enthusiastic” organiser of the drugs operation, discussing stock levels and sources, wages for couriers, and encouraging violence to ensure debts were settled.
One message spoke of “sending send some lads” to see a debtor.
Mr Evans said: “She became the organised crime groups financial controller, managing stock, money balances, turnover and outgoings, and identifying those who were bad payers and needed visiting…
“She performed [her role] with real efficiency and enthusiasm. “The Devil works hard, but Barbie works harder,” she wrote. She even told others off when they did not meet her high standards of efficiency.”
Read more: Updated: Criminals in county's biggest drugs case jailed for 106 years
Peter Corrigan, for Sadlo, said she challenged the prosecution claim that she had played a "key role" in the conspiracy. The defendant’s role had been more one of administration, he suggested.
Judge Nicholas Barker said Sadlo must return to court on June 13 to give evidence to support her case. She will remain remanded in custody until then. As she led from the court's dock, Sadlo was heard to shout.
Gittins, who also ran a small cannabis dealing operation, was involved in receiving around 20 deliveries of cocaine.
Mr Evans said: “It’s plain that Gittins played a significant role in this conspiracy as a highly trusted warehouseman storing and permitting the distribution of very large quantities of cocaine as well as operating as a banker/recipient of cash from drug dealing.
From phone messaging, detectives estimated Gittins handled £17,525,000.00 worth of high-purity cocaine at his Hindley Green address in Wigan, the drug being moved there soon after it was imported.
Dealing with Knowles, Mr Evans said that during the conspiracy, the defendant lived at what the drug gang used as a “safe house” in Prestwich Street, Atherton, Manchester, which was also used for distributing the cocaine,
The court heard several examples of when cocaine was delivered to the defendant’s house, including an occasion in February 2023 when Sadlo brought 33 kilos of the Class A drug to Prestwich Street.
Police believe some 77kgs of cocaine went through Knowles’ property and the drugs had a street value of £7.7m.
Rebecca Penfold, for Knowles, said his role during the conspiracy was restricted to him acting “under direction.” Having suffered a stroke in late 2024, the father-of-four was unlikely to make a full recovery.
A man of previous good character, who had been his wife’s carer, he came to court with character references. Judge Barker noted the defendant’s remorse but jailed him four years and ten months.
Julian Nutter, for Gittins, also presented references.
Also a man of previous good character, the defendant was highly thought of by his former employer. He had no knowledge of the importation side of the conspiracy, said the barrister, adding that Gittins had expressed remorse.
Accepting that he too was remorseful, Judge Barker jailed him for seven and a half years.
* Sadlo, from Bracknell, Berkshire, appeared on the Polish version of the hit TV show Love Island in 2021. While on the show, she described herself as a “spontaneous, self-confident blonde who you can count on”.
* An earlier hearing was told that Barnes was referred to fellow conspirators as "the kid,” indicating his lack of influence. Judge Barker said he did not doubt that Barnes supplied significant amounts of cocaine.
He was jailed for 12 years.
