Gang who smuggled £200m of cocaine in banana boxes to UK sentenced to 116 years behind bars

3 December 2024, 17:41

A gang of drug smugglers has been jailed for a combined 116 years after attempting to bring £200m worth of cocaine to the UK in 41 boxes of bananas.

Crime boss Petko Zhutev was due to collect the Colombian drugs at a London warehouse in February 2021, unbeknownst to him, the illicit substances had already been seized by border officials.

The drugs were intercepted in Portsmouth, making it the largest-ever drug haul in UK history.

Midway through a retrial at the Old Bailey, Zhutev, 39, who entered the UK from Bulgaria in January 2021, admitted importation of a class A drug having previously been cleared of possession of a revolver and ammunition with intent to endanger life.

Read more: Man arrested over death of young mother, 25, killed in ‘hit and run’ after e-bike rammed by Land Rover

On Tuesday, he was jailed at the Old Bailey for 27 years alongside four others, after Judge Rebecca Trowler KC said he played a "leading role" in the importation.

Erik Muci, 45, of Haynes Road, Hornchurch, and Olsi Ebeja, 40, of Malta Street, Islington, were found guilty of importation at the conclusion of the retrial and were sentenced to 33 years' and 17 years' imprisonment respectively.

Judge Trowler branded Much a “key organiser” as she jailed him for 26 years for the importation and given a further consecutive sentence of seven years' imprisonment for the supply of class A drugs, after police recovered 33kg of cocaine from a property on Caledonian Road, north London.

Ebeja, from Kosovo, carried out an "operational function" in the enterprise, including as a driver, the judge added.

Bruno Kuci, 32, who was born in Albania and came to the UK in December 2020, and Gjergji Diko, 34, of west Beckton, who were arrested with Zhutev, had previously pleaded guilty to the importation charges.

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.

Sentencing them on Tuesday, Judge Trowler said the importation was "plainly the work of an organised crime group with international elements", adding the group had Bulgarian and Albanian elements.

Ms Trowler added: "The extremely large quantities of cocaine involved and the organisation required to bring such amounts into the UK from Colombia demonstrated beyond doubt that this enterprise was sophisticated in its planning and well resourced."

A whopping 2,330 blocks of cocaine, weighing 2.3 tonnes were uncovered, hidden in 41 boxes of bananas.

After the discovery, two undercover officers posed as lorry drivers and swapped the cocaine-filled boxes with ones holding more bananas.

Zhutev used the cover of his role as director of a food importation business, Agro Food Ltd, to organise and set up the UK side of the criminal operation, jurors heard.

He was in charge when two lorries delivered the pallets of bananas, having secured the manpower to unpack, repackage and distribute the drugs hidden among the fruit, it was alleged.

Gemma Burns, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “A banana import business was used as a front to smuggle well over two thousand kilograms of cocaine into the UK; representing international drug trafficking on an industrial scale.

“The success of this prosecution was down to the CPS working closely with the National Crime Agency, who foiled the gang’s banana box scheme and most importantly stopped these dangerous drugs from reaching our streets.

“The significant sentences given to the gang mean they will be off our streets for a long time.

“These sentences send a clear message to criminals intent on trying to flood the UK with drugs that we will not rest until you are convicted and behind bars.”

Diko and Kuci were also convicted of possessing a prohibited firearm and possession of ammunition without a firearm certificate.