Southwark Crown Court sentenced two men on Thursday for their roles in a £10 million cocaine smuggling operation that moved 290 kilograms of class A drugs through a UPS facility in Essex.
Zak Archbold, 30, a supervisor at the depot in Stanford-le-Hope, received a 12-year sentence for manipulating tracking systems to bypass customs checks.
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Co-defendant Steven Bullen, 51, was jailed for 16 years and four months for managing the distribution network from Spain.
The international trafficking ring was uncovered in 2020 after law enforcement decrypted the EncroChat messaging app.
The network used code names like "Veggie Kray," "Ghost," and "Cuddly Bandit," while Archbold operated under the alias "King."
Judge Nathaniel Rudolf KC told Archbold he "enthusiastically played your part," noting the supervisor initially joined due to personal debt.
The court found Bullen held a superior position, using specialized vehicle compartments and designated drivers to distribute hundreds of kilograms of drugs.
"Taking part in the way you both did in high-level criminality involving this amount of drugs is a pathway of risk and reward," the judge said.
"The reward is financial, and the risk is prosecution and conviction."
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Both defendants knowingly accepted those risks.
Bullen pleaded guilty to conspiracies involving 790 kilograms of cocaine, 242 kilograms of MDMA, and 114 kilograms of amphetamine.
"Zak Archbold abused his position while working for a reputable courier company and facilitated the importation of cocaine from Europe into the UK," said Gemma Vincent of the Crown Prosecution Service.
