Islington dealer jailed for smuggling cocaine inside chocolate bars
A DRUG smuggler who had cocaine hidden in chocolate bars delivered from South America to his Islington home opposite a police station has been jailed for almost seven years.
Ciaran Etuk, 20, of Dewey Road, Islington, organised for drugs with a street value of �78,000 to be split into small blocks, coated in chocolate and packaged like confectionary in Ecuador.
The brazen dealer then arranged for them to be shipped to Britain and delivered to his family home in full view of Islington police station in Tolpuddle Street – but his plan came crashing down when police were tipped off and swooped on the stash moments after it arrived.
Etuk was sleeping when the package was delivered and fled barefoot out of a first floor window with the chocolate bars in hand when he realised the police were onto him.
He ran across several roof tops and jumped through the open window of another house, but he had cut his foot during the chase and a blood trail led police into the flat where he was found hiding in the loft.
Sergeant Derek Wright, from Islington crime squad, said: “The cocaine was in block form wrapped in cellophane, and in turn wrapped in tin foil. The blocks were then submerged and coated in chocolate and wrapped up in foil and wrappers to form chocolate bars. The experience and thought that obviously went into this operation suggests it was not done by a novice.”
Etuk was arrested on October 15, 2010, and was jailed for six years and eight months on Tuesday at Blackfriars Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to importing Class A drugs.
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But the sentence could have been much longer. Sergeant Wright said; “The judge praised Etuk’s barrister for advising him to plead guilty because if not he would have been looking at 10 years minimum, and the judge said he was minded to give him 14 years because of the weight of evidence against him.
“It is my belief that these drugs were destined for dealers on the streets of Islington, and Etuk’s conviction and the seizure of a considerable quantity of cocaine have undoubtedly disrupted a criminal network’s ability to operate and has prevented these drugs from causing harm to the local community.”
