The gang of men who smuggled almost £4.5 million worth of cannabis hidden in sacks of Gari powder from Ghana to south Essex have been jailed for a combined total of 26 years.
The drug haul was discovered by border force officers inside a shipping container at Tilbury Docks following a National Crime Agency sting.
All four men were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on October 18, 2024.
Daniel Yeboah was jailed for five years and Edward Adjei, 48, of London Road, Grays was jailed for four years.
Kristoffen Baidoo, 48, failed to appear at last month’s trial, and Kwaku Bonsu, 52, fled the jurisdiction prior to sentencing.
Both men were sentenced in their absence – Baidoo received 10 years, and Bonsu seven years.
Work is ongoing to locate the pair and return them to custody to serve their sentences.
NCA senior investigating officer Saju Sasikumar said: “These men used their international contacts to import a huge amount of cannabis into the country.
“Its onward supply in the UK would have had a catastrophic impact on our communities, fuelling violence and exploitation through county lines drug dealing.
“Today’s result demonstrates the NCA’s commitment to targeting organised criminals operating at the top of the drug supply chain and ensuring they are put before the courts.”
The container arrived at the South Essex docks from Ghana on December 19, 2019, where it was held before continuing its journey to London.
Intelligence obtained by the National Crime Agency and the Ghanaian Narcotics Control Commission suggested it contained drugs.
Seized – the bags of Gari powder inside the container (Image: National Crime Agency)
A search confirmed that 2,335 packages of herbal cannabis weighing a combined 1.5 tonnes were hidden inside white hessian sacks of Gari powder.
Officers estimate the street value of the drugs would have been approximately £4.3million. Seemingly realising the drugs were missing, they all then fled the site in different cars, abandoning the load shortly after the container was opened.
The drugs were seized from the sacks and replaced with dummy packages before making its journey to north London on January 13, 2020 where Yeboah, of Homerton High Street, signed the delivery note using a fake signature.
Some of the cannabis found inside the container (Image: National Crime Agency)
As the men left the area, realising the drugs were missing once the container was opened, officers were in tow, and all were arrested later that day – Yeboah and Adjei, of London Road, Grays, were arrested in Homerton, Baidoo in Stratford and Bonsu, of Arthur Road, Edmonton, in Edmonton.
Text messages and e-mails found on Baidoo’s mobile phone uncovered his plot to take delivery of the drugs at the yard, which he had rented under a fake name to disguise his identity.
It was also evidenced that a bank account belonging to Bonsu made multiple payments to a shipping company for the container to be delivered from Tilbury Docks to the north London yard.
The shipping container and Gari sacks containing cannabis were discovered by NCA officers.
Source: echo-news.co.uk