Lorry driver caught with £1.25 million of heroin in Harwich jailed
The driver was arrested at Harwich International Port in April this year.
Last updated 7th Sep 2020
The National Crime Agency (NCA) infiltrated encrypted communications and tipped off Border Force officers.
They waited for 49-year-old Dariusz Urban, from Poland, as he drove his lorry into Harwich International Port on 15th April.
Concealed in a cover load of crisps was 25kg of heroin, hidden inside two steel vehicle ramps.
Urban was also in possession of an EncroChat phone at the time of arrest.
EncroChat is an encrypted communication network criminals use to speak in secret, which an international law enforcement partnership was able to crack in February.
His arrest was reported at the time and a day later, an international drugs supplier shared a screenshot of the NCA story over the encrypted chat network, asking the suspected UK recipient "this you?".
Following this, the supplier was arrested by Dutch authorities in the Netherlands.
Urban was sentenced on 3rd September to 12 years in prison for attempting to import Class A drugs.
NCA Deputy Director Matt Horne said: “Darius Urban’s sentencing is another example of the impact the NCA, Border Force and UK policing are having on serious organised crime.
“Like many other cases, with this operation we were able to plot how the drugs would be picked up and moved and when would be best to strike.
“There is much more to come.”
Urban's sentencing was part of Operation Venetic, which the NCA says has resulted in hundreds of arrests, as well as the seizure of firearms and drugs.