A truck driver has been jailed for 13-and-a-half years after smuggling £7.2 million of cocaine hidden in a shipment of Kim Kardashian’s Skims clothing.
According to BBC report, officers stopped Jakub Konkel’s lorry at Harwich International Port in Essex on 4 September and found 90kg of cocaine concealed in the trailer doors. The 40-year-old had transported the drugs as part of a legitimate delivery of Skims products from the Netherlands.
Konkel, of Kartuzy in northern Poland, pleaded guilty to smuggling Class A drugs at Chelmsford Crown Court. Judge Richard Wilkin said he acted as a “willing driver,” collecting the drugs from an industrial estate in Belgium and driving them to Hook of Holland for a ferry to the UK. He was paid €4,500 (£3,918) for the job.
The court heard that officers became suspicious of how Konkel was driving a lorry carrying 28 pallets of clothing. An x-ray revealed the modified trailer doors, and a phone linked to the operation was set to wipe itself after 18 hours.
The National Crime Agency said gangs often use drivers to move drugs in legitimate loads. Paul Orchard of the NCA said the seizure cut off significant profits for the crime group involved.
The court ordered that the drugs, lorry, and mobile phone be seized and destroyed. Konkel will be deported once he completes his prison term.
BBC reported that Kim Kardashian’s representatives were approached for a statement.