Four Ghanaians were convicted of smuggling £4.5 million worth of cannabis into south Essex from Ghana, concealed inside sacks of Gari powder.
After a National Crime Agency sting, border force agents at Tilbury Docks found the narcotics haul inside a shipping container.
On Tuesday, September 3, a jury found Daniel Yeboah, 54, Kwaku Bonsu, 52, Kristoffen Baidoo, 48, and Edward Adjei, 48, all of London, guilty following a three-week trial at Southwark Crown Court.
On December 19, 2019, the container arrived from Ghana to the South Essex docks, where it was stored until it continued its voyage to London.
Information gathered by the Ghanaian Narcotics Control Commission and the National Crime Agency indicated it contained drugs.
Searches revealed that concealed within white hessian sacks containing Gari powder were 2,335 sachets of herbal cannabis weighing a total of 1.5 tonnes.
Edward Kwame Adjei, Daniel Yeboah, Kwaku Addae Bonsu, and Kristoffen Yaw Baidoo are pictured from left to right.
According to officers, the drugs would have had a street value of about £4.3 million.
The medications were taken out of the sacks and swapped out with fictitious packaging.
Under the supervision of authorities, the container was transported from Tilbury Docks to an industrial yard in north London early on January 13, 2020, riding on the back of a lorry.
Yeboah from Homerton High Street received it and used an angle grinder to remove the container seal. Yeboah also signed the delivery note with a forged signature.
Officers from the National Crime Agency saw Bonsu, of Arthur Road, Edmonton, driving around the industrial yard and taking pictures of the container with his mobile. Adjei was also seen letting Baidoo off at the yard.
“Today’s result is testament to the joint international work between the NCA and the Ghanaian Narcotics Control Commission to intercept the drugs shipment, and the tireless efforts of our officers to identify the criminal group behind its importation,” stated Saju Sasikumar, a senior investigating officer with the National Crime Agency.
“Had this huge haul of cannabis reached the UK supply chain, it would have fuelled exploitation through county lines activity as well serious violence and knife crime.
“Putting these harmful criminal groups before the courts and dismantling their illegal operations is a key part of the NCA’s mission to protect the public from serious and organised crime.”
At Baidoo’s address, a 10-ton hydraulic press—which is frequently used to compress drugs—was discovered. The men were also taken into custody with several items, including cell phones and dash cams from their cars.
Shortly after the container arrived at the yard, Adjei’s phone calls to Baidoo and Yeboah were captured on video that was taken from his Toyota’s dash cam.
In a conversation with Yeboah, he stated,
“my brother, be a little watchful. It is all a little dodgy”.
Later conversations also revealed that Yeboah had told Adjei, “I don’t think the food [drugs] is in it,” and “there was Gari inside, but most of the Gari has been removed.” People are liars.
Emails and texts that were discovered on Baidoo’s cell phone revealed his scheme to accept the drugs at the yard, which he had rented under a false name in order to hide his identity.
Additionally, it was proven that Bonsu’s bank account had paid a shipping business several times to have the container delivered from Tilbury Docks to the north London yard.
On October 18, the four men will be sentenced.
