How £80m of cocaine was found after a lorry break-in

After an HGV driver reported that his container had been broken into, rapid action by police officers led to the discovery of more than £80m in cocaine.

Three drug smugglers had spent a month planning their operation, hiring vehicles and getting people in place for the attempted heist.

Their plans were foiled when the lorry driver noticed the break-in as he stopped for a cuppa at a burger van on the edge of Northampton in November 2021.

Specialist Metropolitan Police officers spent two years investigating the operation, and the final member of the trio to be sentenced was jailed this week.

The scale of the drug smuggling operation was uncovered when officers from Northamptonshire Police were called to a lay-by on Lilliput Road, Northampton, on 26 November 2021.

The lorry driver had stopped there for a cup of tea, having picked up the container earlier.

It was supposed to be holding 29 pallets of steel furniture parts and had been sealed before leaving Mexico on 30 September, arriving at the Port of Felixstowe in Suffolk on 12 November.

Bystanders told officers they saw a grey transit van park at the rear of the lorry before the group quickly moved in, blocking the lorry’s possible exit.

They saw “men remove large, wrapped packages from the rear before fleeing from the scene”.