A man has been jailed for 20 years after he was convicted of attempting to smuggle cocaine worth £4.25m into the UK hidden in cans of tuna.
Roy Brooks, 43, of southeast London, was arrested in October 2005 after an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs and the National Crime Squad. The cocaine was found in a container of tuna, which had been shipped to Tilbury docks, Essex, from Venezuela. Chelmsford Crown Court heard that 1,044 of the 26,000 tins contained the drug.
Judge Hayward Smith told him: “You were not the center of this web but played a big part, the misery that this drug would have caused is incalculable.â€
Graham Honey, HMRC assistant chief investigation officer said: “This was a sophisticated attempt to smuggle a large amount of cocaine into the UK. Working alongside the National Crime squad, we have succeeded in stopping over £4m of drugs reaching our streets.â€
A second man, Tony Pitts, also of London, and arrested at the same time was acquitted at the hearing on 30 June.
