Three Jailed for 47 Years Over Foiled £80m Cocaine Import

Overview

• An attempted theft at a Northampton layby on 26 November 2021 was halted when bystanders saw a van unload packages from an HGV during the driver’s tea break, and officers recovered 18 holdalls containing 780kg of cocaine with an estimated street value of more than £80 million.
• Specialist Met officers led a prolonged investigation that tracked suspects across the country using CCTV, phone data and financial records and unraveled a planned operation that followed the shipment from Felixstowe port.
• Prosecutions ran through 2023–2026 and ended with the final sentence on Wednesday 4 November 2026 when Craig Le‑Mare was jailed for 20 years, bringing the three defendants’ combined prison terms to more than 47 years.
• Police evidence showed the gang had prepared in advance by hiring vehicles, booking hotel rooms, ordering takeaways and trailing the lorry for about 125 miles, and one suspect was arrested at Gatwick after leaving the UK.
• Northamptonshire and Metropolitan Police said the seizure prevented a large quantity of class A drugs reaching communities, highlighted vulnerabilities in containerised shipping, and underlined the value of rapid local response joined to specialist national forensics.