Gang thought they were about to make millions - but police were watching their every move
02.11.2023 - 12:31
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
This was the moment the net closed in on a multi-million pound drug smuggling gang. Four men, including a high-level drug dealer from Trafford, were arrested by National Crime Agency (NCA) investigators as they unloaded a shipping container which arrived in the UK from Ecuador.
The organised criminals believed the container, used to ship bananas, was also carrying £11m-worth of drugs. Video footage shows one of the group, Florjan Ibra, using a crowbar to rip open the massive container from above - while a second man, Arman Kaviani, uses a forklift to join him.
After opening the container, they begin to move boxes from inside into an empty holdall bag. Moments later, NCA officers moved in to arrest the group before the pair leapt from the top of the container in an attempt to flee.
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The sting happened as the group expected 139 kilos of cocaine to be hidden inside the consignment of bananas, according to the NCA. Little did they know, the drugs had already been seized by Border Force at London Gateway port, before the container was resealed.
A few days later after the drugs had been removed, Robert Ball contacted the shipping line to ask them to release four containers, including the one he thought contained the cocaine. The NCA says the 59-year-old, from Altrincham, was later found to be acting on behalf of an Albanian organised crime group.
He arranged for a transport company to collect and move the containers to a storage company in Herald Way, Coventry. But the movements