Two men have been jailed after police seized 20 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of more than £14 million in Northolt.
Richard Johnson, 47 of Foster Way, Sheffield and Kamil Sokolowski, a Polish national, were were arrested after officers witnessed a box containing some of the drugs being transferred between a lorry and a van in a slip-road near to the Target Roundabout in Northolt shortly after midnight on 25 November 2022.
The box contained 20kg of cocaine.
The pair were sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court yesterday (5 May 2023). Johnson pleaded guilty at Isleworth Crown Court on 22 February 2023 to conspiracy to supply cocaine. He was sentenced to six years and nine months. Sokolowski pleaded guilty at Isleworth Crown Court on 5 January 2023 to conspiracy to import cocaine. He was sentenced to six years and eight months.
In total, after police investigated the lorry, they discovered another six boxes and a total of 141 kilograms of cocaine was recovered.
Johnson and Sokolowski attempted to run away but were chased by officers on foot and arrested nearby.
They were found to have been messaging on encrypted devices which they had used to arrange the handover. Johnson has travelled to London from the north of England.
Detective Constable Leon Ure, from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command said: “I am certain these drugs would have ended up in the hands of dangerous criminal gangs and would have resulted in violent crime and anti-social behaviour. These men thought they have covered their tracks by using an encrypted device and by meeting at a secluded location, however we still caught them, and I hope this acts as a warning to anyone else involved in transporting and selling drugs.”
