A corrupt dock worker who was involved in a plot to smuggle millions of pounds worth of cocaine into the UK in pallets of bananas was caught after police switched out the drugs for dummy packages.
Michael Jordan, 45, was on shift at Portsmouth docks in April last year when 372 pallets of bananas, originally from Columbia, arrived on a cargo vessel.
Officers watched Jordan on CCTV separating pallets which he believed contained cocaine and move them to a separate warehouse.
But what Jordan did not know was that police had stopped the 1,477kg of cocaine – worth an estimated £118m – at Vlissingen in the Netherlands.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) and their Dutch counterparts then replaced the drugs with dummy packages.
Unaware of the switch, Jordan and his accomplice at the docks, David Oliver, from Portsmouth, attempted to conceal the pallets they believed contained the drugs.
Jordan then prepared for the arrival of Turkish lorry driver Ahmet Aydin, so the load could be moved into his trailer quickly and without detection.
The NCA shared intelligence with West Midlands Police, who arrested four men as part of their own investigation when the dummy load was transported to a rural location near Lichfield in Staffordshire.
Jordan was arrested along with Oliver and Aydin, who were convicted last year, on suspicion of conspiracy to import class A drugs.
Jordan was convicted on Friday after a three-week trial at Portsmouth Crown Court.
He was sentenced to 21 years in prison on Monday.
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Oliver and Aydin were sentenced separately to 13 years and 14 years respectively.
NCA Branch Commander Matt McMillan said: “Michael Jordan was part of a criminal conspiracy to import a large quantity of cocaine through the UK border.
“He used his insider knowledge as a port worker to make money from the cocaine trade, which fuels violence and exploitation on our streets.
“The NCA worked closely with the port operator, international partners, and West Midlands Police to dismantle this organised crime group and protect the public.”
