Trucker Jailed Over $8.4M Cocaine Stash Hidden in Kim Kardashian’s Skims Cargo

ESSEX, England — A Polish truck driver who attempted to smuggle nearly $8.4 million (£6.8 million) worth of cocaine into the United Kingdom by hiding it within a cargo shipment of Kim Kardashian’s popular “Skims” shapewear brand has been sentenced to 13 years and six months in prison.

​The National Crime Agency (NCA) confirmed that 40-year-old Jakub Jan Konkel, a resident of northern Poland, received his sentence at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday following a sophisticated interception by border officials.

​Authorities explicitly noted that the Skims merchandise and shipment were entirely legitimate, stressing that neither the clothing exporter nor the retail importer had any connection to or knowledge of the illicit smuggling operation.

​Intercepted at the Border

​The smuggling plot unraveled last September when Konkel arrived via ferry at the Port of Harwich in Essex, driving a commercial vehicle loaded with 28 pallets of the celebrity-owned underwear brand. The vehicle had traveled from the Netherlands, a known European transit hub for narcotics.

​Border Force officers flagged the vehicle for secondary screening. Routine X-ray examinations of the trailer exposed structural anomalies, prompting a physical search.

​Investigators subsequently discovered 90 tightly wrapped packages of high-purity cocaine, weighing a combined total of 198 pounds (approximately 90 kilograms). The narcotics had been carefully concealed inside a specially adapted, hollowed-out compartment within the truck’s rear doors.

​Coordinated Transit Route

​NCA forensic experts and investigators determined that Konkel had deliberately diverted from his authorized commercial route during the continental leg of his journey. The driver made an unscheduled stop to rendezvous with drug suppliers, where the 90 packages were loaded into the modified door panels before he boarded the UK-bound ferry.

​The street value of the seized haul was estimated at $8.4 million, representing a massive financial blow to the organized crime network behind the shipment.

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​Upon his initial arrest, Konkel vehemently denied any knowledge of the contraband, maintaining that he was merely hauling a standard retail consignment. However, faced with mounting technical and digital forensics compiled by the NCA, he ultimately confessed to the crime. Konkel admitted he had agreed to transport the multi-million dollar narcotics haul in exchange for a courier fee of just 4,500 Euros (approximately $5,276).

​A Blow to Criminal Networks

​UK law enforcement officials hailed the judicial outcome as a major victory against cross-border syndicates that exploit legitimate commercial supply chains to funnel class-A drugs into British communities.

​”These drugs destroy lives and inflict misery on our communities,” Border Force Assistant Director Jason Thorn said in a post-hearing statement. “This significant interception is testament to the brilliant work of Border Force, depriving criminal networks of millions in profit.”

​Thorn added that border infrastructure and intelligence networks will continue to operate under heightened vigilance to disrupt maritime smuggling corridors. “We continue to work round the clock to relentlessly pursue criminality, protect our borders, and keep these dangerous drugs off our streets.”