A Liverpool man has been sentenced to 14 years in prison after a failed attempt to smuggle £11 million worth of drugs into Britain hidden inside various pieces of machinery.
Ryan King, 38, was identified as a key member of an organised crime group that orchestrated the importation of 72 kilograms of cocaine and 51 kilograms of heroin.
The drugs were discovered in March 2022 by Border Force officers at Killingholme Port in Lincolnshire, concealed inside an air compressor unit transported in an unmanned trailer from the Hook of Holland.
After the discovery, the National Crime Agency (NCA) launched an investigation that quickly linked King to the smuggling attempt.
Forensic analysis revealed King's DNA on both the drug packages and a tracker device hidden within the concealment.
King was arrested in December 2022 upon arrival at Liverpool John Lennon Airport after a trip to Spain.
He was charged with two counts of the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of Class A drugs.
Initially denying involvement, King was due to stand trial at Hull Crown Court on Tuesday, August 5.
However, on the day of the trial King actually changed his plea to guilty, leading to his immediate sentencing.
Carl Barrass, operations manager at the NCA, praised the efforts of the Border Force team in intercepting the shipment, highlighting the broader impact of the seizure.
“This was excellent work by our Border Force partners to detect a large amount of class A drugs concealed in a piece of machinery,” Barrass said.
“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.”
See More: Drug Smuggling, Drugs, Hull Crown Court, Liverpool
