In a scene ripped straight from a movie, a truck driver attempted to smuggle a staggering £2.9 million worth of cocaine hidden inside a lorry filled with everyone’s favourite childhood toy: Lego!
The elaborate scheme was brought to a halt at the Eastern Docks in Dover when Border Force officers, acting on a tip, intercepted the HGV driven by 43-year-old Uzbekistan national, Feruz Kadirov. While his cargo of 50 pallets of Lego was a legitimate consignment destined for a store in Corby, Northamptonshire, a closer inspection revealed a far more sinister payload.
Investigators with the National Crime Agency (NCA) discovered the narcotics stashed in two separate locations. Twenty kilograms of the Class A drug were found hidden under the mattress in Kadirov’s bunk, while another fifteen kilograms were ingeniously concealed behind the outer motor of his truck’s fridge.Facing overwhelming evidence, Kadirov pleaded guilty to the smuggling charges. His audacious plot ended not with a high-stakes escape, but with a stiff sentence. He was sentenced to nine years and nine months in prison at Canterbury Crown Court last week.
NCA operations manager Tracey Gasson said:
“Through the brilliant detection work by Border Force and the NCA investigation, we have removed Kadirov who was a crucial member of his organised crime group. Removing and destroying the drugs also deprives the OCG of profits which cannot now be put back into other criminal conspiracies. Greed is at the absolute centre of these offences. Drugs gangs don’t care at all about the horrific affect they have on our communities and the lives they wreck.”