A drug smuggler from Upper Clapton has admitted trying to ship £5.5m worth of cocaine from the UK to Ireland.
When officers stopped lorry driver Joseph Gray, 52, at the Welsh port of Holyhead on October 9 last year, they found 69 kilos of cocaine in his heavy goods vehicle.
The drugs, which were stored in one kilo blocks, were hidden amongst pallets of yoghurt and orange juice.
Gray, of Draperstown in Northern Ireland, had collected the Class A drugs the day before in Thornbury - near Bristol - from conspirators Moynul Hoque, of Harry Zeital Way in Upper Clapton, and Usman Iqbal, of Grays in Essex.
Hoque and Iqbal - aged 31 and 35 respectively - were both arrested on December 12 at UK Channel Tunnel custom controls in France.
The trio admitted exporting Class A drugs at Caernarfon Crown Court yesterday (December 15).
They will be sentenced on March 4, 2022.
National Crime Agency (NCA) investigator Callum Gracey said: "These drugs would have put vast sums of money back into the hands of criminals who would have reinvested it into more offending.
“Class A drugs are at the centre of violence and misery which blight some of our communities."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here