Gang jailed over £200m of cocaine in banana boxes

A gang has been jailed after trying to smuggle cocaine with a street value of about £200m in a cargo of bananas from Colombia.

The shipment - believed to be one of the biggest drug seizures ever seen in the UK - was intercepted at Portsmouth Port in February 2021.

Undercover officers posed as lorry drivers to take dummy crates to a warehouse in north London.

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.

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.

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.

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.

When armed police raided the unit, they found the dummy crates had been set to one side and some of the boxes opened.

Police also found a loaded black Turkish Ozkursan revolver in the warehouse.

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.

Diko and Kuci pleaded guilty to the charges, but Zhutev was cleared of the firearm and ammunition offences after a trial in 2023.

Jurors failed to reach a verdict on the drugs importation charges and a retrial took place this summer.

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.

Zhutev changed his plea to guilty in September and has now been sentenced to 27 years in prison.

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.

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.

Sentencing them earlier, Judge Rebecca Trowler KC said the importation had been "plainly the work of an organised crime group with international elements".

The CPS said it would start proceedings to reclaim the money made from the crimes.