Two men have not been found guilty for the conspiracy of sending £200,000 worth of cocaine via taxi.

Harry Byart, 25, of Merlin Close, Waltham Abbey and Edson Monteiro de Resende, 34, now of Pasteur Drive, Swindon were both not found guilty on Tuesday, August 13.

The final verdicts come following a four-week trial at Bristol Crown Court, the jury took almost three hours and 40 minutes to reach a decision.

Alongside Byart and de Resende, three other men have been charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine from London to Swindon on the evening of September 7, 2017.

Nahkell Gordon,32, formely of Eastwood Close, London, Marcus Mawire, 24, of Milton Road, Sittingbourne and Dean Mulholland, 28, of Limes Avenue, Swindon were found guilty of the charges.

Prosecutors allege Marcus “Cas” Mawire and Dean Mulholland organised the Swindon part of the operation, roping-in Brazilian-born taxi driver Edson Monteiro de Resende.

The taxi driver was asked to drive to London, pick-up the cocaine and hand over almost £2,000 cash to Byart, a former rapper under the name of Fugative.

The court heard how Mawire was said to have sent de Resende to Waltham Abbey at around 10.25pm in 2017.

As de Resende was parked up, a car driven by Byart pulled into the car park where police claim an envelope said to have contained almost £2,000 was passed from de Resende to Byart.

The two men told the court differently, with Byart getting out of his car and de Resende had asked if Byart wanted to count the cash, but the producer said he trusted the driver.

The cabbie then left and began driving on the M4 by 11.10pm until undercover officers followed the taxi driver where he abruptly pulled over into the hard shoulder.

De Resende got out to check the bagged package he had been told was medication for Mawire’s mother.

Recognising it as cocaine, the driver was said to have panicked. “I knew Cas had used me to collect drugs by sending me to London,” he told the court.

Fearing what might happen to his three children if he were to call the police, de Resende carried on to Swindon.

But rather than go to a home in Penhill – where Mulholland was said to be spending time with friends – as directed by Mawire, de Resende headed to his client’s Hunters Grove home.

It was there he was stopped by uniformed officers driving an unmarked car. In the taxi they found the block of cocaine and around £290 in cash.

Mawire, Mulholland and Gordon will be sentenced today.