Dutch drug dealer busted at Harwich with £3m cocaine wrapped in Dior labels

A drug dealer who was caught with a car boot full of millions of pounds worth of cocaine wrapped in Dior labels has been jailed.

Rolf Warnars’s Renault Scenic was stopped by Border Force officers at Harwich International Port in Essex after he travelled from the Hook of Holland in the Netherlands.

There was a heavy suitcase in his car that he claimed was packed with clothes for his trip to the UK.

When officers searched it, they found 42 kilograms of cocaine - worth about £3.2m.

The drugs were individually wrapped by the kilogram and each package was tagged with a Dior designer label.

Warnars was arrested for the cocaine importation attempt and the National Crime Agency launched an investigation.

Investigators analysed data held on his mobile phone and discovered he had made four other trips to the UK from June 2023 to when he was arrested at Harwich Port in November 2023.

On each occasion he would arrive into the UK from the Netherlands, stay overnight in a hotel, and return the following day.

Evidence of Warnars' use of exchange "tokens" was also uncovered on his phone.

Tokens are commonly used in criminal exchanges as a method of verifying the correct recipient of drugs or illicit cash. They often take the form of a bank note serial number and are sent as proof of receipt, said police.

Warnars appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday to be sentenced, having pleaded guilty to importing class A drugs at an earlier court hearing.

He was sentenced to 10 years and six months imprisonment.

Paul Orchard, NCA operations manager, said: "Cocaine supply fuels violence in communities across the UK, with direct links to knife crime and the exploitation of children and vulnerable adults.

"Our investigation evidenced that this wasn’t a one-off for Warnars, as he made several trips in the months before his arrest.

"The sentence handed down to him should serve as a stark warning to drug suppliers – you will be caught and put before the courts."

Jenny Sharp, assistant director for the Border Force's central region, said: "Every drug trafficker caught protects our communities from the destructive influence of illegal drugs.

"This case is another strong example of our unwavering commitment to keeping our borders secure."

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