Four men have been convicted of smuggling £4.5 million worth of cannabis from Ghana to South Essex, UK. The drugs, hidden in sacks of Gari powder, were intercepted by border force officers at Tilbury Docks after a National Crime Agency (NCA) operation. The guilty men, Daniel Yeboah, Kristoffen Baidoo, Kwaku Bonsu, and Edward Adjei, were sentenced following a three-week trial at Southwark Crown Court.
The cannabis, weighing 1.5 tonnes, was concealed in a shipping container that arrived in the UK on December 19, 2019. The NCA, in collaboration with Ghana’s Narcotics Control Commission, uncovered the smuggling operation. The drugs were seized and replaced with dummy packages before the container was tracked to a yard in North London, where the suspects attempted to receive the shipment.
Upon discovering that the drugs were missing, the suspects fled the scene but were later arrested by NCA officers. Investigations revealed that Baidoo had rented the yard under a fake name, and Bonsu had made multiple payments for the container’s delivery. The four men are set to be sentenced in October.
This case highlights the effectiveness of international cooperation in combating drug smuggling and the commitment of law enforcement agencies to dismantle criminal networks involved in the illegal drug trade.