A Stoke Newington man has been convicted of being part of a gang which smuggled cocaine and cannabis worth at least £9million through Heathrow Airport with the help of a corrupt baggage handler.
Wilfred Owusu, 30, of Stoke Newington, and Preetam Mungrah, 43, of Thornton Heath, were found guilty on Thursday of conspiring with baggage handler Joysen Jhurry, 40, who pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing. Jhurry arranged to move suitcases off a flight from Brazil to baggage carousels for domestic flights.
The bags would be then collected by couriers, organised by Owusu, arriving on internal flights from UK airports, who could exit Heathrow without going through customs controls.
Brendan Foreman from the NCA said: “This was a sophisticated plot and at the centre of it was a man who used his privileged access to Heathrow and insider knowledge of the airport’s systems for criminal purposes.”
Owusu will be sentenced later this year.
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