A Belgian drugs trafficker tried to smuggle cocaine to the UK in a coverload of dry ice and pretended it was destined for a London hospital.
Bart Verschueren, 40, was today sentenced to 18 years in prison following a National Crime Agency investigation.
NCA investigators proved he was behind at least one drugs run that contained 285kg of cocaine with a street value of around £22.8m.
On 5 May 2020, an innocent part-time driver Verschueren recruited was stopped at the Coquelles border controls in France by Border Force officers.
The driver’s paperwork said his consignment of dry ice was for St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London. But Verschueren invented the recipient to avoid checks during the first Covid lockdown and the hospital was in no way connected with the dry ice.
Under the dry ice were blocks of cocaine. The driver was arrested and later released without charge when it became clear he was an innocent dupe.
Verschueren, of Sint-Katelijne-Waver, a municipality south of Antwerp, was convicted and jailed in Belgium for other drugs trafficking offences he committed in 2020 and 2021. He was extradited to the UK in August 2024 and charged with smuggling the 285kg of cocaine.
He denied the offence but was convicted by a jury at Canterbury Crown Court in March this year and was sentenced today (Thurs 10 April).
The jury heard that the same vehicle he used for the failed smuggling attempt had successfully made it to the UK three times in the preceding weeks.
Prosecution counsel argued there must have been drugs smuggled on the previous occasions and Verschueren, was sentenced on the basis that he trafficked at least 500kg of cocaine. He organised the importations under the cover of a transportation company he owned.
Peter Jones, NCA operations manager, said: “The NCA works at home and abroad to protect the public from the threat of Class A drugs which wreck lives and our communities.
“Bart Verschueren did everything possible to cheat justice. And he thought nothing of risking his driver’s freedom. When he knew his vehicle had been stopped, he reported his driver missing in a bid to distance himself from the importation.”
10 April 2025
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