Dem don find four Ghanaian men guilty of smuggling £4.3m worth of cannabis from Africa go UK wey dem hide inside sacks of garri.
One container wey load garri bin land Tilbury Docks for Essex from Ghana on 19 December 2019 bifor police seize am and replace di drugs wit dummy packages bifor dem offload am into one lorry.
Dem find Daniel Yeboah, 54, Kristoffen Baidoo, 48, Kwaku Bonsu, 52, all from London, and Edward Adjei, 48, from Basildon for Essex guilty afta three-week trial for Southwark Crown Court.
Baidoo no show for di trial but court find am guilty for im absence, and all di four men go dey sentenced on 18 October.
Following leads by di National Crime Agency (NCA) and di Ghanaian Narcotics Control Commission, officers bin hold di container for Tilbury and dem see 2,335 packages of herbal cannabis wey dem hide inside sacks of garri.
Dem seize di drugs and replace am wit dummy packages.
Di NCA say dem come allow one lorry to deliver di container to one industrial yard for north London on 13 January 2020.
Na Yeboah sign di delivery note, e use fake signature and one worker for di yard remove di container seal wit one angle grinder.
NCA officers say dem see Bonsu dey go round di industrial yard for im car, e take fotos of di container wit im mobile phone, and dem see as Adjei drop Baidoo off for di yard.
Afta dem realise say di drugs don miss, one NCA tok-tok pesin say “all of dem run comot di site in different cars, dem abandon di load shortly afta di container dey opened”.
‘A little dodgy’
Officers see one10-tonne hydraulic press, wey dem always dey use compress drugs for Baidoo address and dem seize plenty devices from di men, wey include mobile phones and dashcams from dia vehicles.
Footage wey di officers download from di dashcam for Adjei Toyota, show im phone calls to Baidoo and Yeboah shortly afta di container land for di yard.
During one call wit Yeboah, e say, “my brother, shine your eyes. e be like say coast no clear”.
Di NCA say Yeboah also follow Adjei tok on fone say “I no tink di food [drugs] dey there” and “garri bin dey inside, dem don remove most of di garri. Di pipo na thieves”.
NCA senior investigating officer Saju Sasikumar say: “To put dis harmful criminal groups bifor di courts and dismantle dia illegal operations na key part of di NCA mission to protect di public from serious and organised crime.”
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