Cocaine smuggler who had drugs stashed in meat found guilty

Dutch national Robert Tromp, 49, was stopped at Harwich International Port on November 11, 2019.

Border Force officers conducted a search of his trailer, finding 280kg of cocaine stashed inside two pallets of frozen chicken meat.

Throughout a trial at Chelmsford Crown Court, the jury heard how Tromp had made two previous trips to the UK in the same lorry, carrying a cargo of low-grade chicken.

Drugs found: The pallets of frozen meat which were searched by Border Force officers

Mark Seymour, prosecuting, said he carried documentation only permitting a journey to carry goods to Crowborough, in Sussex.

But after arriving in Harwich from the Hook of Holland on October 30 and November 4, Tromp instead drove to a location in Huntington, Cambridgeshire.

The prosecution said this unauthorised journey was made in order to deliver “the dirty side” of the load.

Mr Seymour said: “Huntingdon clearly had a purpose.

“That purpose, the Crown say, is very straightforward and very simple, to drop part of the load in Huntingdon – that part being, as per trip three, two pallets which have drugs on board.”

The court heard the drugs seized in November 2019 had a purity of between 70 and 80 per cent.

Following a trial lasting around two weeks, Tromp, of Hillegom, in the Netherlands, was convicted of one charge of fraudulently evading a prohibition on an importation.

READ MORE: Lorry driver denies role in Harwich International Port cocaine smuggling

The key issue during the trial was knowledge, with Tromp claiming he lacked any awareness of a drug smuggling operation.

He will be sentenced at the same court this morning.

Recorder Richard Christie QC said: “You’ve been found guilty by this jury of this charge, obviously it is a serious charge and Mr Bonehill is still in the process of mitigating on your behalf.

“I will consider what he has to say and we will then move to sentence.”