Lorry driver's tea stop led police to £80m cocaine haul; third gang member jailed for 20 years

Tea stop and the layby report

The driver of a lorry stopped at a layby on Lilliput Road in Northampton to buy tea from a roadside burger van. He then reported that his container had been broken into and items stolen, and police were called in November 2021. Bystanders told officers they had watched a group of men unload large wrapped packages from the lorry into a grey van. Within two hours, Northamptonshire Police had traced the van and found 11 holdalls inside, while seven more remained in the back of the lorry.

Route, seizure and inquiry

The container was meant to carry 29 pallets of steel furniture parts and had been closed in Mexico on 30 September 2021. Records showed the shipment came into Felixstowe port in Suffolk on 12 November 2021, the same day the gang members reached Ipswich. Metropolitan Police officers spent about two years untangling the operation, and their inquiry found the group had hired vehicles and lined up people for the attempted heist in the preceding month. Police said the men swapped cars, changed number plates, split up and falsely reported the van stolen while trying to avoid detection. In total, 18 holdalls containing 78kg of cocaine, valued at about £80m, were seized on 26 November 2021.

Sentences and convictions

Craig Le-Mare, 36, was found guilty of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and sentenced to 20 years at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, 4 November 2026. Le-Mare had left the UK soon after the seizure and was arrested at Gatwick Airport in January 2025. Two accomplices had already been sentenced: Kelly Robertson, 46, received 15 years at Snaresbrook Crown Court in November 2024, while Michael Weston, 57, received 12 years and nine months at the same court in May 2026. Robertson had been arrested in December 2023, and both men had earlier accepted their role in the plot.

Craig Le-Mare20

Kelly Robertson15

Michael Weston12.75

Craig Le-Mare

20 years

Kelly Robertson

15 years

Michael Weston

12.75 years

Data from the article text

Police response

Detective Inspector Dean Grafton, who led the Metropolitan Police investigation, said the case showed the scale of the plan.

“This investigation exposed an intricately planned operation, where the defendants hoped to make millions by selling cocaine across the UK.”

Officers spent two years unravelling the operation, and the force presented the sentences as proof of its determination to pursue organised crime groups. Northamptonshire Police made the initial discovery in the county, and the Metropolitan Police led the follow-up inquiry. Assistant Chief Constable Emma James of Northamptonshire Police said:

“The discovery of this substantial quantity of cocaine in Northamptonshire led to a significant investigation which ultimately prevented dangerous drugs from reaching communities across the UK.”