A qualified pilot used his light aircraft in a bid to smuggle cocaine into the UK.
Pilot Anastasios Balian, 52, and accomplice Errol McCardo Weir, 48, admitted trying to bring 30kg of the Class A drug into the country, following a National Crime Agency investigation.
On 20 March this year, they were stopped by Border Force officers at North Weald airfield in Epping, Essex, after landing from Belgium via Calais.
Officers searched the small plane and discovered a concealment had been built into the rear seats. Inside it were 30 1kg blocks of cocaine with a street value of about £2.4m.
Weir, a photographer, of Shifford Path, Lewisham, south London, admitted smuggling the drugs last month when he appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court.
Today (Friday 16 May), Balian, who runs a company conducting aerial surveys, also admitted the same count. They will return to court for sentencing on a date to be fixed.
A WhatsApp chat was discovered between the offenders’ phones. It contained a link to a news story with the headline ‘Gang use small aircraft to drop Cocaine into Dorset’.
Balian, of Milton Court, Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, joked in another message that the gang must have watched the Tom Cruise film ‘American Made’, which is a plot based on light aircraft cocaine trafficking into the US.
NCA operations manager Paul Orchard said:
“Anastasios Balian used his expertise and apparent legitimacy to enable this attempted importation of Class A drugs.
“These substances destroy lives.
“The organised crime groups that traffick them don’t care about that, they only care about money. Balian and Weir were part of that crime group.
“Working with key partners such as Border Force, the NCA will continue to do all it can to fight the threat of Class A drugs.”
Penina Giffen of the Crown Prosecution Service said:
“This was an audacious operation in which cocaine was carefully concealed in a light aircraft bound for Essex.
“Balian and Weir were caught red handed with cocaine which, coupled with damning digital evidence, gave them little choice but to plead guilty.
“The illegal drug trade has devastating impacts on individuals and communities, and it is essential those who seek to exploit and profit from this trade are brought to justice.
“This case is also an excellent example of the close working relationships between Border Force, National Crime Agency and CPS colleagues, whose collaborations are invaluable at cracking down on organised crime groups.”
16 May 2025
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