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Gemma Burns, a senior crown prosecutor at the CPS, speaks as a drug-smuggling gang is jailed after cocaine with a street value of £200 million was intercepted in a shipment of bananas – making it the UK’s largest haul of the drugs at the time. Crime boss Petko Zhutev was in charge of taking delivery of the Colombian drugs at a London warehouse in February 2021 – unaware it had already been seized by border officials at Portsmouth. Midway through a retrial at the Old Bailey, Zhutev, 39, who entered the UK from Bulgaria in January 2021, admitted importation of a class A drug having previously been cleared of possession of a revolver and ammunition with intent to endanger life. On Tuesday, he was jailed at the Old Bailey for 27 years alongside four others, after Judge Rebecca Trowler KC said he played a “leading role” in the importation.