Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian's SKIMS brand was cleared of any involvement after 90kg of cocaine was found in a modified truck Naser Ch/flickr

A lorry driver hid $9.4 million (£7.2 million) worth of cocaine inside a truck carrying 28 pallets of Kim Kardashian's SKIMS clothing, and he agreed to do it all for just €4,500 ($5,236).

Jakub Jan Konkel, a 40-year-old Polish national from Kartuzy in northern Poland, was sentenced on Monday at Chelmsford Crown Court to 13 years and six months in prison following a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation. The payment he accepted amounted to roughly 0.06% of the cocaine's street value.

The NCA confirmed that neither SKIMS nor the clothing's exporter or importer had any connection to the drugs. Kardashian's brand was an unwitting cover for a smuggling operation that exploited a legitimate international supply chain.

How 90 Packages Were Hidden in Plain Sight

Konkel was stopped by Border Force officers at the Port of Harwich in Essex on 5 September 2025 after arriving on a ferry from the Hook of Holland in the Netherlands. His heavy goods vehicle was carrying a legitimate shipment of SKIMS underwear and clothing.

An X-ray of the vehicle told a different story. The truck had been specially modified with a concealed compartment built into the skin of the rear trailer doors. Inside were 90 individually wrapped one-kilogram (2.2-lb) packages of cocaine.

The concealment wasn't improvised. The compartment was professionally engineered before Konkel ever collected the SKIMS cargo, according to the NCA.

The 16-Minute Detour That Gave Him Away

Investigators found a gap in Konkel's tachograph, the device that records a commercial driver's movements and stops. It logged a 16-minute stop on his route that he never disclosed during his NCA interview.

That undeclared detour is believed to be when the drugs were loaded into the pre-built compartment with only Konkel's and the crime group's knowledge.

Konkel initially denied knowing anything about the 90 kilograms of Class A drugs in his vehicle. He eventually pleaded guilty to drug smuggling.

€4,500 for a $9.4 Million Load

The most striking detail is Konkel's price. He confessed that he agreed to transport the cocaine for €4,500, a figure so small it wouldn't cover a month's rent in most of London.

The crime group behind the operation wagered a $9.4 million shipment on a single driver being paid the equivalent of 0.06% of its street value. That ratio shows how organised crime networks treat couriers as expendable, low-cost links in a vastly more profitable chain.

'Organised crime groups use corrupt drivers like Konkel to move Class A drugs often hidden on entirely legitimate loads such as this,' NCA operations manager Paul Orchard said. 'The detection and investigation have removed a significant amount of cocaine whose profits are lost to the crime group behind the smuggling attempt, and with Konkel they've lost an important enabler.'

How Criminal Networks Turn Real Brands Into Cover

Border Force Assistant Director Jason Thorn described the seizure as a blow to criminal operations. 'These drugs destroy lives and inflict misery on our communities,' he said.

The case lays bare a well-documented tactic in international drug trafficking. Criminal organisations don't simply move drugs across borders. They attach themselves to legitimate shipping routes, using real cargo from recognisable brands as camouflage. The more routine a delivery looks, the less likely it is to attract scrutiny.

Kardashian founded SKIMS in 2019, and the brand has grown into a global shapewear and clothing label valued at $4 billion (£2.98 billion) as of its latest funding round. It had nothing to do with the cocaine plot. But the name on those 28 pallets of clothing gave Konkel's truck exactly what every smuggler needs, the appearance of a perfectly ordinary shipment.

Writer's pick