More than $8.4 million worth of cocaine was found concealed inside a truck hauling a shipment of Kim Kardashian's Skims underwear and clothing into the UK, British authorities announced Monday.
The truck, loaded with 28 pallets of legitimate Skims products, was flagged and x-rayed by Border Force officers at the Port of Harwich in Essex on Sept. 5 last year, after arriving on a ferry from Hook of Holland, the Netherlands.90
The street value of the seized cocaine was approximately £7.2 million, or roughly $8.4 million.
Behind the wheel was Jakub Jan Konkel, 40, a Polish national from Kartuzy in northern Poland. He was sentenced on Monday at Chelmsford Crown Court to 13 years and six months in prison after pleading guilty to drug smuggling. Konkel admitted he had agreed to move the drugs in exchange for a payment of 4,500 euros.
Konkel initially denied knowing anything about the cocaine. But investigators found a revealing clue in his own tachograph—a device that records a driver's movements and activity. The data showed a 16-minute unscheduled stop that Konkel failed to disclose during questioning, which authorities believe is when the drugs were loaded onto the truck.
Brand Denies Knowledge
The Skims shipment itself was entirely clean, according to the NCA, which confirmed that neither the exporter nor the importer had any involvement in or knowledge of the smuggling operation. Skims reiterated that in a statement sent to numerous outlets."SKIMS is aware of the recent news involving a shipment with our products," the company said. "We want to be absolutely clear: SKIMS had no knowledge whatsoever about this criminal activity. We had no connection to the smuggling operation, the driver, or the truck."
NCA Operations Manager Paul Orchard said the case illustrates a common tactic used by trafficking networks.
"Organised crime groups use corrupt drivers like Konkel to move Class A drugs often hidden on entirely legitimate loads such as this," Orchard said. "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."
Border Force Assistant Director Jason Thorn said the interception was a direct strike against criminal networks profiting from drug trafficking.
"These drugs destroy lives and inflict misery on our communities," Thorn said.