Come Dine With Me winners part of cannabis import plot gang

A gang, including two winners of Channel 4's cooking show Come Dine With Me, have been convicted for taking part in a plot to import cannabis.

The plot involved plans to smuggle 58kg (130lb) of the drug into the UK from the US but was foiled after a theft at a London airport, the Met Police said.

Nicholas Panayiotou and Eleanar Attard appeared on a professionals version of the show in 2022 with their restaurant.

Members of the gang were sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court on Friday.

Panayiotou, 43, was sentenced to four years in prison after he was convicted of conspiracy to supply cannabis while Attard, 45, was given an eight month prison sentenced after she was found guilty of theft of suitcases and passports. Her sentenced was suspended for one year.

The Met said they were involved in the plan with Constantinos Zavros, Luke Wileman and Koby Haik.

Police uncovered the plot when two women reported their suitcases and passports had been stolen after arriving in London on a flight from Los Angeles on 11 January 2023.

CCTV inquiries led detectives to two suspects, a man and woman, and a car registered to Attard.

Officers attended Attard's home in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, two days later and arrested her and her husband Panayiotou.

Evidence on Panayiotou's phone pointed to a wider drug smuggling plan to steal the cannabis from two women recruited to import it by posing as customs officers.

Three videos taken at the couple's Touch of Greek restaurant, in Chingford, east London, taken a day after the theft, showed large quantities of cannabis.

Three other people involved were identified in a WhatsApp group - Zavros, who was connected to the drugs suppliers in the US and Haik and Wileman, who advised the gang on how to sell the drugs, the force said.

Those also convicted are:

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