M6 cocaine courier caught with £44k stash in fast food delivery bag jailed

A cocaine courier whose £44,000 criminal cargo was found by police inside a Just Eat delivery bag has been sent to prison.

Shimat Tshinyoka, 31, was driving a BMW 116 series northbound on the M6 when he was stopped by police between Penrith and Carlisle on 16th July, 2020.

Tshinyoka said he had been to visit family in Liverpool when quizzed by officers, who could smell cannabis and searched the vehicle.

Around 3.5g of cannabis was located in a small tub in a centre console of the car. “But in addition to that package in the boot,” prosecutor Joe Allman told Carlisle Crown Court today, “inside a Just Eat delivery bag was a package which consisted of a compressed block, 892g, of cocaine.”

This had a purity of 24 percent, was cut ready for onward street supply and potentially worth up to £44,000. A mobile phone was also seized and contained messages which indicated street dealing.

Tshinyoka, a man of previous good character, admitted possessing cannabis and cocaine with intent to supply. “It is clear that he was operating as a courier and to some extent a dealer himself,” said Mr Allman.

Andrew Gurney, defending, told the court Tshinyoka had been a “low level dealer of cannabis”. “Which he was doing during Covid as a way of funding during a difficult financial time,” said Mr Gurney.

He was offered £100 to “take a package from A to B”, was instructed not to look inside and did not know exactly what it was.

Tshinyoka, of Avenuepark Street, Maryhill, Glasgow, was said to be a carer for his father, and also managed his brother’s music studio.

He was jailed for a total of 28 months by Judge Nicholas Dean QC, who concluded that mobile phone analysis indicated the defendant was a low level supplier of both cocaine and cannabis.