It must be tough to coordinate drops and shipments in the 21st century of drug trading. Advanced technology can scan and x-ray nearly every vessel you could potentially smuggle in, as well as track anyone’s whereabouts, which makes getting an order to its intended destination fairly difficult. You have to consider every detail or risk being caught like the 40-year-old Polish man whom the Associated Press reports has been sentenced to a 13½-year prison stint in England for attempting to smuggle $9.7 million worth of cocaine he had hidden in a truckload of women’s underwear.
Jakub Jan Konkel, 40, was said to be returning from the Netherlands in September with a delivery truck full of 28 pallets of Skims, Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand, when he was stopped by border officials at an Essex port. In a recent report from the National Crime Agency, it’s not clear what prompted the stop, but during it the truck was x-rayed and the load was considered legitimate. But the 90 packages of 1 kilogram bricks of coke — about 198 pounds in all — that were found strategically hidden in compartments built into the rear trailer doors were not.
When the secret is more loaded than Victoria’s Secret
An investigation revealed that neither the exporter nor the importer was involved in the smuggling efforts, nor did they have any connection to the transaction. The agency found a discrepancy in Konkel’s driving records that included a 16-minute stop he didn’t share with authorities while he was interviewed. They believe this stop was when the coke was loaded into the vehicle, which honestly at that quantity seems fairly quick.
Konkel, after initially denying any involvement in the smuggling efforts, told authorities he had agreed to smuggle the cocaine for a payment of a bit over $5,200. And really, that’s a disappointing figure. It’s not even a tenth of 1% of the total value of the cocaine he was transporting. At least he could have negotiated his way to enough money to cover bail if something like this were to happen. Instead, he’ll have to ponder his poor math and negotiating skills for the next 13½ years in prison.
