A lorry driver has been jailed for smuggling more than £7m worth of cocaine hidden on a vehicle carrying a consignment of Kim Kardashian’s Skims underwear and clothing.

Polish national Jakub Jan Konkel, 40, was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court today (Monday 18 May) to 13 years and six months in prison, following a National Crime Agency investigation.

On 5 September last year 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, The Netherlands.

His heavy goods vehicle, which was carrying 28 pallets of Skims clothing, was x-rayed. The load was entirely 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.

The truck had been specially adapted and a hide constructed in the skin of the rear trailer doors.

Inside were 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 failed to declare to the 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, of Kartuzy in northern Poland, 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 Euros.

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