A Nigerian national, Gideon Oluwasetemi Olumoyegun, has been convicted in the United Kingdom over his involvement in a plot to smuggle cannabis valued at £13.8 million into the country, while two other Nigerians face charges in a separate international cocaine trafficking investigation.
Olumoyegun, 26, from Dagenham, was part of an 11-man drug courier network intercepted at Birmingham Airport in August 2024 after Border Force officers discovered 22 suitcases containing about 460kg of cannabis.
He pleaded guilty before the case went to trial and is due to be sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on September 3.
The remaining members of the group were convicted on Wednesday following a four-week trial and are scheduled to be sentenced on October 22.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) said the suspects had travelled to Britain on the same flights from Thailand, connecting through Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Each courier carried two suitcases, with the bags containing approximately 20kg of cannabis each. Investigators said the drugs had been vacuum-packed and concealed underneath a thin layer of clothing.
Eight of the suitcases were fitted with Apple AirTag tracking devices, suggesting that the organisers had taken steps to monitor the movement of the consignments.
The NCA said the operation was foiled before the drugs could be distributed in Britain.
Paul Boniface, the agency’s senior investigating officer, said the scale of the operation demonstrated extensive preparation by the criminal network.
“A huge amount of planning went into this sophisticated attempt to bring hundreds of kilos of cannabis into the UK,” Boniface said.
He added that the seizure had denied the criminals the opportunity to profit from the drugs and warned prospective couriers against accepting offers to transport narcotics into Britain.
“Anyone who is approached to smuggle drugs into the UK should take this as a sign; you will not succeed, and if you try, you will face justice,” he said.
The development comes as British and Nigerian authorities pursue another major international drug trafficking investigation involving cocaine.
Two Nigerians, Oladipupo Atandare, 50, of Dagenham, and Latifat Yusuf, 44, of Hornchurch, have been charged in the UK following the seizure of more than 180kg of cocaine.
The pair were arrested after the cocaine was recovered in Britain on August 5. They appeared before Barkingside Magistrates’ Court on August 8 and were remanded in custody.
They are expected to appear at Snaresbrook Crown Court on September 7.
The Metropolitan Police said the charges against the duo relate to the UK seizure, while investigations are continuing into the discovery of another large cocaine consignment in Nigeria.
Nigerian authorities had earlier announced the seizure of 184.5kg of cocaine, estimated to be worth about £20 million, at a courier facility in Lagos.
The cocaine was reportedly concealed in brown boxes.
The Nigerian investigation has resulted in several arrests, including an employee of a logistics company suspected of having links to the shipment.
Also arrested is Afolabi Kazeem Michael, 49, popularly known as KC Luxury, a social media influencer with almost 700,000 Instagram followers.
Michael reportedly portrays himself as a businessman dealing in gold and luxury items and is known for displaying high-end vehicles on his social media platforms.
Nigerian law enforcement authorities have accused him of being the alleged Nigerian “arrowhead” of an international drug cartel.
The two cases have intensified scrutiny of transnational drug trafficking networks operating between Nigeria, Britain and other countries.
In the Birmingham case, investigators said the suspects travelled from Thailand before entering the UK through France, while the cocaine investigation has prompted parallel inquiries on both sides of the Atlantic route.
The cases also underscore the growing use of commercial air travel and courier networks by international drug syndicates to move large quantities of narcotics across borders.
Authorities in both countries are continuing their investigations, with the forthcoming court proceedings expected to shed further light on the networks behind the separate consignments.
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