Portsmouth dock workers 'tried to import £118m cocaine into UK'

Three employees at Portsmouth cargo dock denied they conspired to import cocaine in pallets of bananas

A group of men tried to import a "colossal" amount of cocaine hidden in bananas into the UK, a court heard.

The three Portsmouth dock workers and a lorry driver are accused of conspiring to import Class A drugs.

Robin Leach, prosecuting, said the men tried to move £118m worth of cocaine through the port into the UK.

They were unaware the drugs however had been discovered and removed in the Netherlands en route to the UK, Portsmouth Crown Court heard.

Michael Jordan, 44, and Clayton Harwood, 55, both from Portsmouth, Michael Butcher, 66, from Waterlooville, all deny one charge of conspiring to import Class A drugs and Ahmet Aydin, 48, of no fixed address, has also pleaded not guilty.

The drug was initially hidden inside a cargo ship that left Turbo in Colombia on 7 April with 372 pallets of bananas destined for UK supermarkets, the court heard.

'Dummy cocaine blocks'

A total of 1.5 tonnes of cocaine, which Mr Leach described to the court as a "colossal amount", were hidden in two of the pallets.

When the ship docked at Vlissingen in the Netherlands on 21 April, sniffer dogs found the drugs and police removed them, the court heard.

UK Border Force officers were alerted, but the two pallets remained on the ship as it sailed to its final destination at Portico's terminal at Portsmouth, Hampshire two days later.

After the ship docked, border force officers replaced the cocaine with dummy blocks and audio equipment, the jury was told.

The court heard that on 24 April Mr Butcher, Mr Jordan and Mr Harwood arrived at work as normal.

Mr Leach told the court the three employees of Portico had had "quite a number of chats or meetings between them during the course of that day".

'No legitimate documentation'

The jury was also shown CCTV stills of Mr Butcher and Mr Jordan apparently swapping the two pallets with other pallets in a different shed, during the first hour of their shift.

"The swap takes place on two occasions," Mr Leach told the jury. "But most importantly it's the two pallets that we are concerned with in this case."

The court heard that Mr Aydin then arrived in a "sizeable lorry" at the Portico gatehouse at 14:07 BST, but he was told by an employee that he "had no legitimate documentation".

Mr Leach told the jury Mr Aydin had been given the incorrect entry pass during messages with a contact in Portsmouth called "Carlos", who "was effectively shadowing" him.

Ahmet Aydin drove the lorry with the two pallets to Sutton Scotney Service Station but refused to go further, the court heard

Mr Aydin was given an exit pass to leave the premises but Mr Leach told the jury Mr Harwood, who was "babysitting Mr Aydin through the gate", ushered him to the shed where the two pallets had been left.

Mr Harwood and Mr Butcher each drove a forklift truck to place a pallet on the lorry and Mr Aydin left the dock.

The jury heard from Mr Leach that an employee of Portico had said neither of the men "had any paperwork at all to show that those two pallets were genuine" and they didn't "need to put a pallet each" on the lorry, as one man can move 24 by himself.

Mr Aydin drove the lorry up the A34 to Sutton Scotney service station, while in contact with Carlos, the court heard.

But, when he stopped there, the court heard he "refused to go any further" and messaged Carlos that "there are many police on this route".

Mr Leach told the jury a different driver took over the lorry and the two pallets were driven to the West Midlands, where local police carried out an investigation.

The trial continues.