An HGV driver that smuggled £7m of cocaine hidden in a vehicle carrying a consignment of Kim Kardashian’s Skims underwear has been given a 13-and-a-half year jail sentence.
Polish national Jakub Jan Konkel was stopped by Border Force officers at the Port of Harwich in Essex as he arrived on a ferry from the Hook of Holland on 5 September last year.
His lorry, which was carrying 28 pallets of Skims clothing, was x-rayed and the load was found to be legitimate and neither the exporter nor importer were connected to the smuggled load.
However, the truck had been specially adapted and a hide constructed in the skin of the rear trailer doors. Inside, officers discovered 90 packages each containing 1kg of cocaine, with a street value of around £7.2m.
Konkel’s tachograph showed a 16-minute stop that he did not declare to the National Crime Agency (NCA) in interview, which is when it is thought the drugs were loaded onto the vehicle with only his and the crime group’s knowledge.
Konkel initially denied knowing anything about the Class A drugs, but eventually pleaded guilty to drug smuggling, confessing he agreed to smuggle the drugs for a payment of €4,500 (£3,900).
He was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday (18 May).
NCA operations manager Paul Orchard said: “Organised crime groups use corrupt drivers like Konkel to move Class A drugs often hidden on entirely legitimate loads such as this.
“The detection and investigation have removed a significant amount of cocaine whose profits are lost to the crime group behind the smuggling attempt, and with Konkel they’ve lost an important enable
