Smuggler jailed after over €12m of cocaine and heroin found in air compressor
A drug smuggler in the UK has been jailed after the discovery of £11 million (€12.6m) worth of class A drugs hidden in an air compressor.
Ryan King, 38, of Tollerton Road, West Derby, Liverpool has been sentenced to 14 years in prison.
King was a member of an organised crime group that had attempted to smuggle the drugs into the country in March 2022.
The eight-figure drug haul included 72kg of cocaine as well as 51kg of heroin.
Ryan King.
News in 90 Seconds - August 6th
His DNA had been found on the drugs packages as well as on a tracker inside the concealment.
The drugs were initially discovered concealed in the machinery at Killingholme Port near Grimsby in Lincolnshire by the Border Forceafter arriving from the Hook of Holland in an unmanned trailer.
National Crime Agency officers then subsequently began an investigation into the matter.
Nine months after the discovery of the drugs, King was arrested at Liverpool John Lennon Airport in December 2022.
He had been set to begin his trial this week at Hull Crown Court before changing his plea to guilty.
A statement from NCA operations manager Carl Barrass said: 'This was excellent work by our Border Force partners to detect a large amount of class A drugs concealed in a piece of machinery.
'The loss of those drugs and the loss of King damages the crime group behind the smuggling attempt.
'They have lost a huge amount of money which cannot now be ploughed back into further offending, and the drug seizure means they will not be pushed around our communities causing misery.'
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