Lorry driver caught smuggling cocaine worth £1.6m through Dover

A Croatian lorry driver has been jailed for six years after attempting to smuggle 20 kilos of cocaine into the UK. 

The National Crime Agency launched an investigation into Predrag Gogic, 53, from Vukovar, Croatia, after he was stopped at Dover's Eastern Docks in May 2021.

Border Force officers scanned his lorry, which had arrived from Belgium, and detected an anomaly in the cargo. 

Within the trailer, they discovered blue and green shrink-wrapped packages in the centre of reels of paper cord. This was found to be a total of 20 packages of cocaine. 

During an interview with NCA officers, Gogic admitted knowledge of the drugs in his trailer and stated he was being paid to smuggle the drugs into the UK. 

He told officers that the cocaine was destined for Leicester, where he was due to receive a payment of 10,000 euros.

NCA forensic experts believe the drugs would have been worth an estimated £1.6 million once cut and sold on the streets of the UK. 

On November 18 he was sentenced to six years in prison at Canterbury Crown Court after pleading guilty to attempting to import Class A drugs at an earlier hearing.

Mark Howes from the NCA said: "Gogic was in the pay of organised crime groups, seeking his share of criminal profit by, transporting cocaine across borders."

"Instead of receiving a 10,000 EUR pay-out, he'll be spending six years behind bars. 

"The NCA is committed to tackling the class A drugs threat and protecting the public. Working with key partners, such as Border Force, we will continue to disrupt drug networks at every stage of the trafficking process."