Five convicted for smuggling cocaine worth £184 million into Portsmouth hidden in banana boxes

The seizure is believed to be one of the largest ever of its type in the UK. Credit: National Crime Agency

Five members of an organised crime group, who smuggled cocaine worth £184 million into Portsmouth, have been convicted.

The men imported the drugs from South America in a shipment of bananas.

Border Force officers at Portsmouth port found 2.3 tonnes of cocaine, after the Organised Crime Partnership (OCP) provided intelligence that the group would be arriving on a cargo ship from Turbo, Colombia, concealed within a legitimate consignment of bananas.

The cocaine was found in pallets of bananas. Credit: National Crime Agency

Officers from OCP removed the drugs and followed the shipment to an industrial estate in North London.

The men were then arrested by officers, supported by an armed MPS unit, in Tottenham, in February 2021, after receiving 41 pallets of bananas into which the cocaine had been loaded.

The National Crime Agency say the drugs had different branded stamps on them, which corresponded to particular organised crime groups that were going to sell them on the streets of London and the wider UK.

It is believed to be one of the largest ever seizures of its type in the UK.

Petko Zhutev, Oisi Ebeja, Gjergji Diko and Bruno Kuci. Credit: National Crime Agency

The group of five, including Petko Zhutev, 39, from Bulgaria, Gjergji Diko, 33, from Italy, and Albanian nationals Bruno Kuci, 33, Olsi Ebeja, 40, and Erik Muci will be sentenced at a later date.

John Coles, Head of Specialist Operations at the NCA, said: "We work with partners at home and overseas to target organised criminals at the top of the chain and who pose the greatest risk to the UK, and the NCA is committed to disrupting their activities.

"These men attempted to bring a huge amount of cocaine into the country, one of the largest hauls of its kind on UK soil, which was destined for crime groups across London and the wider UK, and the seizure stemmed from a thorough investigation by NCA and Met Police officers."

NCA say this is the cocaine from one pallet of bananas. Credit: National Crime Agency

Detective Superintendent Simon Moring, from the Metropolitan Police Service’s Central Specialist Crime Command, said: "This seizure would have been broken down into many millions of individual deals of cocaine.

"This level of violence, mental and physical health problems and anti-social behaviour that would have ensued across London and the UK would have been significant.

"This seizure highlights the relentless drive by the Met Police, the NCA and wider UK law enforcement to tackle the illegal supply of drugs."

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