A British court sentenced a truck driver to prison for smuggling $9.4 million worth of cocaine in a shipment of underwear and clothing from Skims, Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand, authorities said Monday.
The National Crime Agency said Jakub Jan Konkel, 40, was driving a truck carrying 28 pallets of Skims clothing from the Netherlands when he was stopped by border officials at a port in Essex in September.
The agency said Konkel had stopped on the way to collect 90 kilograms (198 pounds) of cocaine, and that the truck had been specially adapted so that he could hide the drugs, wrapped in 1-kilogram (2.2-pound) packages, in a compartment of the truck’s back doors.
In a social media post, the NCA released three images of the purported drugs inside the merchandise.
The agency said the shipment of clothing was legitimate and neither the exporter nor importer were connected to the smuggled load.
Konkel, who initially denied knowing anything about the cocaine, eventually confessed he had agreed to transport the drugs for a payment of 4,500 euros ($5,243), according to the agency.
He was sentenced to 13½ years in prison for drug smuggling at Chelmsford Crown Court.
“Organised crime groups use corrupt drivers like Konkel to move Class A drugs often hidden on entirely legitimate loads such as this,” NCA operations manager Paul Orchard said in a statement. “The detection and investigation have removed a significant amount of cocaine whose profits are lost to the crime group behind the smuggling attempt, and with Konkel they’ve lost an important enabler.”
