Pilot jailed after £2.4m worth of cocaine found

Anastasios Balian was jailed for nine years after pleading guilty to importing Class A drugs into the UK

A pilot has been jailed for nine years after using his light aircraft in a bid to smuggle cocaine into the UK.

Anastasios Balian, 52, from Hertfordshire, and his accomplice, Errol Weir from south London, who was jailed for seven years, were trying to import 30kg (66lb) of cocaine into the country before being stopped at North Weald airfield in Essex on 20 March.

The pair admitted the offences and were sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court following an investigation by the National Crime Agency.

Paul Orchard, agency operations manager, said: "Anastasios Balian used his expertise and apparent legitimacy to enable this attempted importation of Class A drugs."

Thirty packages of cocaine was found in the rear seat of the light aircraft in March

The pair were stopped by Border Force officers at the airstrip, next to the M11, after flying from Belgium via Calais.

A concealed area was discovered in the rear seats containing 30 packages of the drug, each weighing 1kg (2lb), which had an estimated street value of about £2.4m.

Balian, from Milton Court in Cheshunt, admitted trying to smuggle the drugs into the country in May, while Weir, of Shifford Path in Lewisham, pleaded guilty in April.

A WhatsApp chat between the offenders' phones contained a link to a news story with the headline "Gang use small aircraft to drop cocaine into Dorset", the NCA said.

The agency added that Balian had joked in another message that the gang must have watched the Tom Cruise film American Made, which is based on a light aircraft trafficking cocaine into the US.

Errol McCardo Weir was jailed for seven-years after pleading guilty at Chelmsford Crown Court

Mr Orchard said: "These substances destroy lives.

"The organised crime groups that traffic them do not care about that — they only care about money."