How a lorry driver's cup of tea led to an £80m cocaine bust

After an HGV driver reported that his container had been broken into, rapid action by police officers led to the discovery of more than £80m in cocaine.

Three drug smugglers had spent a month planning their operation, hiring vehicles and getting people in place for the attempted heist.

Their plans were foiled when the lorry driver noticed the break-in as he stopped for a cuppa at a burger van on the edge of Northampton in November 2021.

Specialist Metropolitan Police officers spent two years investigating the operation, and the final member of the trio to be sentenced was jailed this week.

The scale of the drug smuggling operation was uncovered when officers from Northamptonshire Police were called to a lay-by on Lilliput Road, Northampton, on 26 November 2021.

The lorry driver had stopped there for a cup of tea, having picked up the container earlier.

It was supposed to be holding 29 pallets of steel furniture parts and had been sealed before leaving Mexico on 30 September, arriving at the Port of Felixstowe in Suffolk on 12 November.

Bystanders told officers they saw a grey transit van park at the rear of the lorry before the group quickly moved in, blocking the lorry's possible exit.

They saw "men remove large, wrapped packages from the rear before fleeing from the scene".

Within two hours, Northamptonshire Police located the van used in the heist, recovering 11 holdalls containing drugs.

Meanwhile, inside the lorry, officers found the gang had left behind seven holdalls containing cocaine.

The hoard weighed 780kg (120st) in total - with an estimated street value of more than £80m.

A Metropolitan Police team took up the investigation, which would uncover the roles played by Craig Le-Mare, Kelly Robertson and Michael Weston.

Officers said the trio "switched cars, changed number plates, split up and even falsely reported the van as stolen as they desperately tried to avoid detection".

The force gathered CCTV and tracked the suspects' routes to and from the scene.

Financial records revealed they had arrived in Ipswich on the same day as the shipment arrived in England and they had "booked rooms at a budget hotel, hired a van and ordered large takeaways to their rooms".

The gang lay in wait for the lorry, following it as it left the haulage yard and trailing it 125 miles across the country to Northampton in their black Ford Mondeo, a grey Vauxhall Astra and white BMW.

Phone records showed Weston sent a message to his partner saying "things are happening for me v soon".

But later, police said he shared a link to a BBC article about the drugs seizure, complaining he was now "skint" for Christmas.

Le-Mare had fled the country shortly after the drugs were found, but was arrested at Gatwick Airport in January last year.

The 36-year-old, of no fixed address, was found guilty of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs at the Old Bailey on Wednesday and was sentenced to 20 years in jail.

Judge Richard Marks KC told him he had played a significant role in the multimillion-pound operation.

The idea that he was only paid £6,000 for taking part was "entirely fanciful", the judge said.

Robertson, 46, of Peregrine Close, Watford, and Weston, 57, of no fixed address, had already pleaded guilty to the same charges.

Robertson was sentenced to 15 years at Snaresbrook Crown Court in November 2024, while Weston was sentenced to 12 years and nine months at the same court in May this year.

Det Insp Dean Grafton, who led the Met's investigation, said his team's work exposed "an intricately planned operation, where the defendants hoped to make millions by selling cocaine across the UK".

"[Officers] meticulously unravelled their operation, conclusively proving their role in the attempted heist," he said.

Assistant Chief Constable Emma James, of Northamptonshire Police, said: "The swift response by Northamptonshire Police officers at the outset helped secure crucial evidence and disrupt the criminal group's plans."

Do you have a story suggestion for Northamptonshire? Contact us below.

Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.