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A gang has been jailed after trying to smuggle cocaine with a street value of about \u00a3200m in a cargo of bananas from Colombia.<\/p>\n
The shipment – believed to be one of the biggest drug seizures ever seen in the UK – was intercepted at Portsmouth Port in February 2021.<\/p>\n
Undercover officers posed as lorry drivers to take dummy crates to a warehouse in north London.<\/p>\n
Petko Zhutev, Ghergii Diko and Bruno Kuci pleaded guilty to smuggling, while Erik Muci and Olsi Ebeja were found guilty of their involvement following a trial at the Old Bailey.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The bananas were imported by Agro Food Ltd, which had traded in fresh produce for five years before changing hands in December 2020 and appointing Zhutev as director.<\/p>\n
The Bulgarian national had come to the UK to find a legitimate company to purchase as a cover for drug smuggling, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.<\/p>\n
He received the shipment at the firm’s Edmonton warehouse, not knowing that the cocaine had been removed and replaced with bananas and listening devices, police said.<\/p>\n
When armed police raided the unit, they found the dummy crates had been set to one side and some of the boxes opened.<\/p>\n
Police also found a loaded black Turkish Ozkursan revolver in the warehouse.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Zhutev, Diko and Kuci were all arrested and subsequently charged with importing Class A drugs, as well as possessing a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life.<\/p>\n
Diko and Kuci pleaded guilty to the charges, but Zhutev was cleared of the firearm and ammunition offences after a trial in 2023.<\/p>\n
Jurors failed to reach a verdict on the drugs importation charges and a retrial took place this summer. <\/p>\n
Kuci, described as a “trusted member of the operation”, was jailed for 21 years and Diko, who also moved to the UK from Albania and had worked as a mechanic, for 18 years.<\/p>\n
Zhutev changed his plea to guilty in September and has now been sentenced to 27 years in prison.<\/p>\n
Muci, who the NCA described as one of the scheme’s principal organisers, was found guilty of smuggling and jailed for 26 years. He received a further consecutive sentence of seven years for supplying Class A drugs.<\/p>\n
Ebeja, who the NCA said was the intended lookout and driver, was found guilty of smuggling Class A drugs at the same trial, but the jury failed to reach a verdict on the charge of supplying them. He was sentenced to 17 years behind bars.<\/p>\n
Sentencing them earlier, Judge Rebecca Trowler KC said the importation had been “plainly the work of an organised crime group with international elements”.<\/p>\n
The CPS said it would start proceedings to reclaim the money made from the crimes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n