Slough cocaine smuggler, 23, jailed over ‘Trojan horse’ drugs gang bust

A 23-year-old Slough man working for a cross-continent ‘Trojan horse’ gang linked to a multi-million-pound cocaine smuggling operation has been jailed.

Justyn Morris, of Upper Lees Road, was handed a 12.5-year prison sentence today (May 19) after he pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to import and supply cocaine.

Morris was jailed along with three other smugglers also busted in the police operation: Netherlands national Bert De Jong, 60, Hussain Sakhi, 22, from Northolt, and Zaibaa Zahur, 21, from Uxbridge.

Speaking at Kingston Crown Court today (May 19), Judge Marytn Barklem said drug trafficking ‘wreaks misery’ and smugglers should know the ‘catastrophic consequences’ of being caught.

He said Morris was a ‘young man whom everyone had high expectations for’ but had ‘fallen into a position of acting as a courier for the distribution of vast quantities of cocaine’.

The four gang members were sentenced at Kingston Crown Court (pictured).

Morris was caught red-handed by London Metropolitan Police officers while in possession of 70kg of cocaine as he was hiding out at an Airbnb in Marsham, Norfolk, on April 17, 2024.

The drugs had been smuggled from South America and into the Netherlands before they were shifted across the English Channel in a DFDS lorry driven by De Jong.

“This is effectively a Trojan horse operation, with the drugs hidden within the consignment,” prosecution barrister David Smith said at the sentencing.

Morris had met De Jong at Abbey Farm Commercial Park in Norfolk the day before his arrest, where he was handed three cardboard boxes packed with cocaine unloaded from the lorry.  

He was driving a van fitted with a specialist drugs hide designed to imitate a water tank.

However, police officers had been monitoring De Jong’s lorry and, having watched the handover, raided the Airbnb holiday let where Morris was staying.

They uncovered a haul worth between £1.75 and £2.45million, and almost £4,000 in cash in Morris’ possession.  

Some of the drugs found by Met Police officers. 

Officers were called back to the Airbnb later that day to arrest Sakhi and Zahur after the holiday let owner contacted police, fearing the two were also involved in the drugs trade.

The court heard how Sakhi and Zahur had been expecting to meet Morris.

The pair had their phones confiscated where a trawl of information about the gang’s activities unravelled in apps including Signal - an encrypted messaging service.  

Investigators found detailed ‘drugs ledgers’ recounting cocaine delivery quantities amounting to more than half a tonne – and a smuggling operation stretching from Leeds to London.

Metropolitan Police estimated the cocaine was worth up to £17million.

The court heard how Morris had showcased the proceeds of his criminal activities on social media, including trips to the Mediterranean and driving an expensive BMW car.

Barrister Belbir Singh, Morris' defence, said: "He was only 22 years of age at the time and that probably had a significant impact upon his decision - his very, very foolish decision - to allow himself to become involved in this offending.”

He added: “This is not a man who would ever appear before the courts again.”

Sentencing Morris, Judge Barklem said: “It’s clear that you are a young man for whom everyone had high expectations.

 “You are from a supportive family and everyone is at a loss to understand how you could have allowed yourself to fall into a position of acting as a courier for the distribution of vast quantities of cocaine.”

Judge Barklem said: “The trade in class A drugs is known to wreak misery amongst many people.

“Aside from the harm caused by the use of drugs, often cut with toxic [additives] at the point of street sale, there is an enormous amount of [further] crime in the form of mugging, shop theft and burglaries by people desperate to find money to fund their addiction.”

Judge Barklem said, despite the young ages of Morris, Sakhi and Zahur, the three would have been aware of the ‘catastrophic personal consequences’ if they were caught.

A jury found De Jong, Sakhi and Zahur guilty at four week trial in April. Morris pleaded guilty on the first day of the trial.

De Jong has now been jailed for 15 years while Sakhi and Zahur, who were also charged on an additional count of supplying cocaine, received sentences of 14 years and 6 years and 10 months.

Judge Barklem also ordered the van driven by Morris should be destroyed.