A lorry driver has been jailed for 12 years after police found £1.25 million worth of heroin stashed inside a crisps delivery.
Dariusz Urban, 49, was intercepted as he drove a lorry into Harwich International Port, in Essex on April 15 this year.
Border Force officers found 25kg of heroin with the six-figure street value hidden in Urban's cover load of crisps.
Searching the lorry, the officers discovered 50 packets of drugs hidden inside two ramps in the vehicle.
Urban's arrest came after a military-grade encrypted communication system used by organised criminals was hacked by law enforcement.
EncroChat was an encrypted platform where users could speak privately between specially-designed handsets, thought to be used exclusively for criminal purposes.
There were thought to be 60,000 EncroChat users internationally, including 10,000 in the UK, with prices at £1,500 for a six-month contract.
Because of the information found through the hack, the National Crime Agency (NCA) was able to tip off Border Force, which was waiting for Urban at the Essex port.
Urban, who was found with an EncroChat phone, was one of hundreds of arrests made as part of a UK-wide probe known as Operation Venetic.
After the NCA publicised the arrest, an international drug supplier shared a screenshot of the story on EncroChat, asking the suspected UK recipient of the drugs: "This you?"
The supplier has since been arrested by Dutch authorities in the Netherlands.
Urban, of Ostrzeszow, western Poland, admitted attempting to import Class A drugs and was jailed for 12 years at Chelmsford Crown Court on Thursday.
NCA deputy director Matt Horne, who is the gold commander on Operation Venetic, said: "Dariusz Urban's sentencing is another example of the impact the NCA, Border Force and UK policing are having on serious organised crime.
"Like many other cases, with this operation we were able to plot how the drugs would be picked up and moved and when would be best to strike.
"There is much more to come."
