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A group of Londoners who smuggled 1,500 kilos of cannabis into the UK from Ghana in sacks of cassava flour have been sentenced.
Daniel Yeboah, 54, Kristoffen Baidoo, 48, Kwaku Bonsu, 52, all from London, and Edward Adjei, 48, from Grays, were found guilty after investigators discovered the drugs inside a shipping container at Tilbury Docks, Essex.
While Yeboah was jailed for five years and Adjei for four years at Southwark Crown Court on Friday, both Baidoo and Bonsu are on the run, having failed to appear in court for trial.
They were sentenced to ten years and seven years respectively in their absence.
The court heard how the container holding the drugs arrived at Tilbury Docks on December 19 2019 and was searched by Border Force officials for drugs after a tip off from the Ghanaian authorities.
They found 2,335 packages of herbal cannabis inside hessian sacks of Gari powder, the flour from cassava roots, with a street value of around £4.3m.
Detectives with the National Crime Agency replaced the cannabis with dummy packages and tracked them.
The container was taken on the back of a lorry to an industrial yard in north London the following month where Yeboah signed for it under a false alias.
Bonsu was then observed taking photos inside the container, while Adjei was spotted dropping Baidoo off at the yard.
Jurors were told how all four fled the site in different cars after the container was opened, seemingly realising the drugs were missing. All of them were arrested later that day.
Detectives found a 10-tonne hydraulic press, often used for compressing drugs, at Baidoo's address.
Phone calls captured on Adjei's Toyota dash cam revealed that he told Yeboah of his suspicions, saying: "My brother, be a little watchful. It is all a little dodgy."
Yeboah was also picked up on later calls telling Adjei: "I don't think the food [drugs] is in it" and "there was Gari inside, they have removed most of the Gari. The people are thieves."
Text messages and emails found on Baidoo's mobile phone also uncovered his plot to take delivery of the drugs at the yard, which he had rented under a fake name to disguise his identity.
NCA senior investigating officer Saju Sasikumar said: "These men used their international contacts to import a huge amount of cannabis into the country.
"Its onward supply in the UK would have had a catastrophic impact on our communities, fuelling violence and exploitation through county lines drug dealing.
"Today's result demonstrates the NCA's commitment to targeting organised criminals operating at the top of the drug supply chain and ensuring they are put before the courts".
Detectives said they are working to track down Baidoo and Bonsu so that they can serve their sentences.
