UPS worker dubbed ‘King’ who helped smuggle £10m of cocaine faces jail
Zak Archbold faces years behind bars
A UPS worker dubbed “King” who paved the way for £10 million of cocaine to be smuggled into Britain is facing years in prison.
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.
Southwark Crown Court 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.
He now faces years in prison when he is sentenced.
The court 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.
The drug smuggling gang used aliases including “Veggie Kray”, “Ghost” and “Cuddly Bandit” on Encrochat to talk about the pipeline of drugs they had set up through UPS.
Archbold was referred to as “King” in messages, as gang members organised “dry run” packages to be sent and remarked “UPS going well”.
Archbold received £750 for every kilo of cocaine successfully shipped in, the court heard.
“He was running the show at Stanford-le-Hope in his role as the pre-load team leader”, said prosecutor Jenny Burgess.
“He is responsible for the identification of parcels notified to him by ‘Ghost’.
“He was able, in his role at UPS, to facilitate the safe passage of parcels to the drivers for onward delivery.”
Archbold 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.
“This is a case about drug trafficking, and the importation of cocaine into the UK through UPS, an international parcel delivery company”, said Ms Burgess.
“The prosecution say this defendant, Zak Archbold, who worked at the Stanford-le-Hope UPS facility, played a key role in facilitating the importation.”
The court heard drugs packages were all addressed to the same property in Upminster, Essex, with a plan for them to be intercepted and distributed around the UK.
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.
Messages showed that Archbold knew about the theft of the money, and had warned the driver that this illicit activity should stop as it was threatening to draw attention to the drug smuggling operation.
Archbold, from Braintree, Essex, was remanded in custody to be sentenced at a later date.