Four Ghanaians, who smuggled almost £4.5 million worth of cannabis hidden in sacks of Gari powder from Ghana to South Essex, UK, have been jailed 26 years.
The drug haul was busted by border force officers inside a shipping container at Tilbury Docks, following a National Crime Agency (NCA) sting.
All four men were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on October 18, 2024.
Daniel Yeboah received five years and Edward Adjei, 48, of London Road, Grays, was jailed for four years.
Kristoffen Baidoo, 48, failed to appear at last month’s trial, and Kwaku Bonsu, 52, fled the jurisdiction, prior to sentencing.
Both men were sentenced in absentia with Baidoo receiving 10 years, and Bonsu getting seven years. Work is ongoing to locate the pair and return them to custody to serve their sentences.
NCA senior investigating officer, Saju Sasikumar, said: “These men used their international contacts to import a huge amount of cannabis into the country. “
“Its onward supply in the UK would have had a catastrophic impact on our communities, fuelling violence and exploitation through county lines drug dealing,” he said.
“Today’s result demonstrates the NCA’s commitment to targeting organised criminals operating at the top of the drug supply chain and ensuring they are put before the court,” Sasikumar added.
The container arrived at the South Essex docks from Ghana on December 19, 2019, where it was held before continuing its journey to London.
Intelligence obtained by the NCA and the Ghanaian Narcotics Control Commission suggested the container contained drugs.
A search confirmed that 2,335 packages of herbal cannabis weighing a combined 1.5 tonnes were hidden inside white hessian sacks of Gari powder.
Officers estimate the street value of the drugs would have been approximately £4.3million.
Seemingly realising the drugs were missing, they all fled the site in different cars, abandoning the load shortly after the container was opened.
The drugs were seized from the sacks and replaced with dummy packages before making its journey to north London on January 13, 2020, where Yeboah, of Homerton High Street, signed the delivery note using a fake signature.
As the men left the area, realising the drugs were missing once the container was opened, officers were in tow, and all were arrested later that day.
Yeboah and Adjei, of London Road, Grays, were grabbed in Homerton, Baidoo in Stratford, and Bonsu, of Arthur Road, Edmonton, in Edmonton.
Text messages and e-mails found on Baidoo’s mobile phone uncovered his plot to take delivery of the drugs at the yard, which he had rented under a fake name to disguise his identity.
It was also evidenced that a bank account belonging to Bonsu made multiple payments to a shipping company for the container to be delivered from Tilbury Docks to the north London yard. – CitiNewsroom.com
Source:
ghanaiantimes.com.gh
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