Five members of an organised crime group that smuggled 2.7 tonnes of cocaine in a shipment of bananas from South America have been jailed.
Petko Zhutev, 39, from Bulgaria, Gjergji Diko, 33, from Italy, and Albanian nationals Bruno Kuci, 33, Olsi Ebeja, 40, and Erik Muci, 45, were investigated by the Organised Crime Partnership, a joint National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police Service unit, who identified they were planning the importation.
They were arrested by OCP officers, supported by an armed MPS unit, at an industrial estate in Tottenham, north London, in February 2021 after receiving 41 pallets of bananas into which the cocaine had been loaded.
The drugs had different branded stamps on them, which corresponded to particular organised crime groups that were going to sell them on the streets of London and the wider UK.
Border Force officers at Portsmouth International Port found the cocaine on a cargo ship from Turbo, Colombia, concealed within a legitimate consignment of bananas. OCP officers removed the cocaine and followed the consignment of bananas until it reached its final destination – Agro Food Ltd at the Crispin Industrial Estate.
The seizure is believed to be one of the largest ever of its type in the UK, and the drugs would have had an estimated street value of £210 million.
Investigators identified that Zhutev had taken over as the director of the food company in December 2020. Although it was previously a legitimate business, he had acquired it solely to use as a front for criminality.
Muci was one of the principal organisers of the drug importation. He was observed meeting with Zhutev, Kuci and Diko at Agro Foods and arranged the delivery and installation of equipment to support the pretence that it was a legitimate enterprise.
Investigation into the mobile devices used by the crime group showed Muci controlled the importation and ongoing supply of significant quantities of cocaine across the UK.
After Zhutev, Kuci, and Diko accepted the consignment, armed MPS officers used a circular saw to enter the locked premises during a raid that resulted in their arrest. Empty banana boxes had been strewn over the floor of the unit, a result of desperate attempts to find the drugs and move them from the site.
The men had constructed dozens of cardboard boxes which they had intended to pack the drugs into. Officers also found nine empty suitcases, which were to be used to fill with cash generated from drugs sales.
A forward-venting blank firearm with five rounds of live ammunition was found hidden behind a ceiling beam, along with numerous mobile devices which had been concealed around the premises.
Ebeja was the intended lookout and driver for the drugs and was arrested near Agro Foods as he waited inside a hire van. Muci employed Ebeja to act as a courier supplying drugs across the UK.
Following the arrests, OCP officers searched a flat associated with Diko, Ebeja and Muci, during which they found 37 kilos of cocaine and ammunition for the firearm. Officers arrested Ebeja at an address in Central London in October 2023. The following month, Muci was arrested outside an address in Hornchurch, East London.
Diko and Kuci pleaded guilty to drugs, firearms and ammunition offences at the Old Bailey in October 2021 and April 2023, respectively. Both men admitted charges in relation to the weapon and ammunition found at the industrial unit and Diko to the ammunition found at the flat.
Zhutev, from West Beckton, London, was cleared of the firearms and ammunition offences at the same court in July last year, following a two-month trial.
The jury was unable to reach a verdict on drugs importation offences, and he was re-tried for these. However, he changed his plea to guilty on Tuesday, 17 September – 58 days into the re-trial.
Ebeja and Muci were convicted on 10 October, having faced trial alongside Zhutev for the first time. Ebeja and Muci were found guilty of conspiracy to import class A drugs. Muci was also found guilty of conspiracy to supply class A drugs (in relation to the cocaine found in the flat).
At the same court, on 3 December), Muci was sentenced to 33 years, Zhutev to 27 years, Diko to 18 years, Kuci to 21, and Ebeja to 17.
The Organised Crime Partnership (formerly the Middle Market Drugs Partnership) has been in operation for 20 years and comprises equal numbers of specialist NCA officers and Metropolitan Police detectives.
The team works to stop the flow of drugs to the criminal market in London, target upstream criminals that impact London, as well as disrupt those overseas who make huge profits from this illegal activity.
