UPS worker who helped smuggle £10m of cocaine to be sentenced in June
Zak Archbold enabled £10 million of cocaine to be smuggled into the country.
A UPS worker dubbed “King” who enabled £10 million of cocaine to be smuggled into Britain is set to be sentenced in June, a court has heard.
Zak Archbold, 30, was the inside man at the UPS depot in Stanford-le-Hope in Essex as parcels containing Class A drugs were shipped into the country from the Netherlands.
At a brief hearing on Monday, Judge Nathaniel Rudolf KC ruled the defendant, from Braintree, Essex, will be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on June 22, giving time for sentencing notes to be prepared.
The court previously heard Archbold used his role as a supervisor to ensure that the drug shipments came through undetected and went on to the right truck for collection by another member of the gang.
Archbold denied involvement in the scheme, but after a trial he was convicted by a jury of fraudulently evading the prohibition on the importation of class A drugs.
The court had heard the drugs gang paid about £2,000 for each kilo of cocaine shipped into the UK, and is believed to have smuggled nearly 300 parcels of drugs – with an estimated wholesale value of £10 million – through the Essex depot in the space of just five weeks in April and May 2020.
The operation was exposed when law enforcement agencies around the world gained access to the secure Encrochat messaging system, used by a swathe of criminal gangs to conduct their illegal activities.
Archbold, who was referred to as “King” in messages, will be sentenced alongside one member of the drug smuggling conspiracy, Steven Bullen, who pleaded guilty to his role.
Three others – Benjamin Thake, Craig Merrin and Jurre Faber – are still at large.
Archbold denied being “King”, but was caught after a UPS delivery driver was suspected of stealing money handed over by customers when they received parcels.