Worker used his job at UPS to smuggle £10m worth of cocaine in to UK

A UPS employee was jailed after he was revealed to be the inside man for a major cocaine smuggling ring.

Zak Archbold, nicknamed “The King”, paved the way for £10 million worth of cocaine to be smuggled into the UK through his job at the UPS warehouse in Stanford-le-Hope, Essex.

Southwark Crown Court heard Archbold, 30, used his role as a supervisor to secure shipments of drugs from the Netherlands. He arrived unnoticed and went straight to the truck to be collected by another member of the gang.

The court was told Bullen played a leading role in the drugs gang’s hierarchy, with one of the identified drivers being known as the “B52 bomber”, with secret compartments being used in cars to transport illicit packages and hundreds of kilos of drugs worth tens of millions being sold.

On Thursday, Judge Nathaniel Rudolf KC sentenced Archbold, who was convicted in a case of fraudulently circumventing the import ban on class A drugs, to 12 years in prison, with evidence showing his smuggling operation involved 290 kilos of cocaine.

Co-defendant Steven Bullen, 51, admitted his role in conspiracies to supply a total of 790 kilos of cocaine and separate plots to supply 242 kilos of MDMA and 114 kilos of amphetamine, directing the operations from his villa in Spain.

He was sentenced to 16 years and four months in prison on Thursday.

Judge Rudolf said Archbold became involved with the drug gang when he fell into debt, but later “enthusiastically played his part”.

The judge added: “To take part, as you both did, in a high-level crime incident involving this amount of drugs is a path of risk and reward.

“The reward is financial, the risk is prosecution and conviction.

“You both chose to walk this path and you must face the consequences.”

Gemma Vincent, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said Bullen was responsible for a “staggering amount of drugs” smuggled into the UK and was working with the National Crime Agency and international law enforcement to secure his extradition to face justice.

“Zak Archbold abused his position while working for a reputable courier company and facilitated the importation of cocaine from Europe into the UK,” he added.

“The convictions of these men would not have been possible without the joint efforts of prosecutors in the UK, Spain and France, Spanish law enforcement and the NCA.

“Going forward, we will seek to confiscate their ill-gotten gains and hope these sentences will act as a deterrent to other potential criminals.

“Drugs have a devastating and costly impact on society and we will continue to work across borders to prosecute those who seek to flood our streets for their own gain.”

Illegal drug supply operations were busted in 2020 when law enforcement gained access to the secure EncroChat messaging system used by criminal gangs around the world to manage their operations.

The court heard a drugs gang paid nearly £2,000 for every kilo of cocaine sent to the UK via Archbold’s UPS warehouse in Essex, with £10 million worth of cocaine delivered in just five weeks in April and May 2020.

The drug trafficking ring used aliases such as “Veggie Kray,” “Ghost” and “Lovely Bandit” on EncroChat when they believed their messages were private, and Archbold was called “The King.”

Before they started sending packages of cocaine, they planned to have “trial” packages sent via UPS to test the new route.

Archbold used his senior position at the Stanford-le-Hope warehouse to direct that drug packages should go to specific lorries, receiving £750 for each kilo of cocaine successfully transported.

Prosecutor Jenny Burgess said Archbold was being led by the “Ghost” and the messages showed he was “running the show” at the UPS warehouse.

The court heard the drug packages were all destined for the same property in Upminster, Essex, and were planned to be seized and distributed across the UK.

The court also heard three other men accused of participating in the drugs gang: Benjamin Thake, Craig Merrin and Jurre Faber; they are still free.

Archbold denied being “King” at trial, but was caught after messages sent to a driver warned him that an additional scheme stealing money from UPS customers threatened to shed an unwelcome light on his drug smuggling operation.

Archbold, from Braintree, Essex, and Bullen, who lives in a villa in Marbella, appeared for sentencing via video link from prison.

The court heard that Archbold continued to work as a scaffolder and for Amazon after he was sacked by UPS in 2020 and lost the franchise business he had set up when he was arrested in April 2025.

Judge Rudolf accepted that Archbold was “naïve” in agreeing to take part in the drug importation scheme.

The judge made a serious crime prevention order against Bullen.

Both defendants were found guilty of conspiracy to import cocaine, while Bullen also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine, conspiracy to supply MDMA and conspiracy to manufacture amphetamines.