Abdullah Baybaşin
Abdullah Baybaşin | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1960 (age 63–64) Lice, Diyarbakır, Turkey |
| Other names | The Godfather[1] |
| Citizenship | Turkey |
| Years active | 1970–2012 |
| Known for | In the 1990s, he smuggled drugs to several European cities, including London |
| Spouse |
Dicle Pırpırok (m. 1984) |
| Children | Çağdaş Baybaşin (b. 1985) |
| Relatives | Hüseyin Baybaşin (brother) Mehmet Baybaşin (brother) |
| Family | Baybaşin family |
Abdullah Baybaşin (born 1960) is a Turkish drug trafficker and crime boss, the current head of the Baybaşin family.
In 2006, he was convicted of trafficking 5 lb (2.3 kg) of heroin and sentenced to 22-year in prison.[2] The British Court of Appeal ordered a retrial on the drugs charge in 2010 after determining that the judge’s summing up of the evidence at the trial was unfair. At retrial on 22 October 2010, a judge at London's Woolwich Crown Court ordered the jury to find Baybaşin not guilty because the lack of prosecution evidence meant a conviction would be unsupported. Judge Charles Byers said that there was no direct evidence and very little circumstantial evidence of Baybaşin's involvement in a conspiracy to supply 5 lb (2.3 kg) of heroin.[3]
On 8 November 2010, Baybaşin was awarded £20,000 in damages by the Prison Services. The Ministry of Justice has accepted that Baybaşin, who uses a wheelchair, suffered from degrading treatment and discrimination on account of his disability while he was in Belmarsh jail in London. On hearing the decision of the Ministry, Baybaşin said that "The treatment I received at HMP Belmarsh was very degrading, and at times I struggled to cope. I thought I would die in prison, and often thought things would never get better."[4]
References
[edit]- ^ Brown, David (23 October 2010). "Courts in crisis: Britain's 'heroin godfather' is freed after smuggling retrial collapses". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
- ^ Pallister, David (15 May 2006). "Turkish drug gang leader jailed for 22 years". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
- ^ FOX. "Fox 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul news and weather". KMSP. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
- ^ Travis, Alan (8 November 2010). "Disabled prisoner to be paid £20,000 for discrimination at Belmarsh". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
External links
[edit]- Summers, Chris. "The rise and fall of a drugs empire", BBC News. April 7, 2006.
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