Olaf Urlik and Norbert Jarzabek, both originally from Poland, first practised and then attempted to smuggle 17 kilos of high purity cocaine, worth an estimated GB pound 1.6 million at wholesale, from Colombia into the UK.
The drug was dissolved in bags of fluid and stored inside larger bags with the live fish. More than 16,000 fish died, and 34 survivors are currently recovering in ZSL London Zoo.
The two men carried out their trial run in April last year. Jarzabek and a friend from Strelley, Nottingham, collected the consignment at Heathrow Airport and took the fish to a lock-up garage in Islington, London where they were abandoned.
Confident of success following their rehearsal, Urlik and Jarzabek then plotted the shipment which would contain cocaine, unaware that investigators from the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) were watching.
The shipment of 25 double boxes of tropical fish arrived on 9 July labelled ‘Live Tropical Fish: Handle With Extreme Care’. officials from SOCA and the UK Border Agency scanned the boxes and found ten containing bags of dissolved cocaine.
Two days passed before Jarzabek and another man arrived at Heathrow Airport to collect the consignment. They loaded the fish into a van and took them to a property in Glade Avenue, Nottingham, which Jarzabek had rented the month before.
Urlik flew in from Amsterdam, arriving at the flat around 2.00 am. As they unpacked the boxes the men commented that they didn’t expect the fish to be as ‘lively’ considering they weren’t collected on time.
Arrested at the scene
At 3.30 am, officers moved in and arrested the men at the scene. The fish had limited oxygen for at least 96 hours and many were dead or lay dying in a colander.
SOCA contacted experts at ZSL London Zoo to look after the 41 fish still alive. A further seven died, and the 34 which survived will remain at the Zoo’s Aquarium.
Olaf Urlik, aged 33, and Norbert Jarzabek, aged 32, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import cocaine on 5 January 2012.
Jailing the pair for 11 years each, His Honour Judge Head sitting at Nottingham Crown Court said: “This was a highly sophisticated operation. Both these men had a substantial awareness of what they were doing, each had a leading role and both set to gain substantially.”
The investigation was conducted in partnership with the UK Border Agency and Nottinghamshire Police.
Expert teams at ZSL London Zoo
SOCA’s Gerry Smyth explained: “These two [individuals] were exceptionally callous. They used living creatures as a test run and then effectively as packaging for their drugs, seeing only the profits they would make. SOCA is grateful to the expert teams at ZSL London Zoo who helped us out in this very unusual case. Drugs cause misery for families and communities. These criminals are now facing lengthy jail terms, and they’ve been denied their profits.”
ZSL London Zoo’s Rachel Jones said: “Despite the awful way that they came about being here, we are pleased to say that the fish are now thriving at ZSL London Zoo’s Aquarium. When we first got the fish, most of them were drastically underweight and they’d been living in cold, dirty water for days.”
Senior lawyer in the CPS’ Organised Crime Division, Jacqueline Finn, explained: “This case demonstrates the extraordinary and innovative lengths that drug dealers will go to so they can ply their evil trade. Urlik and Jarzabek thought that by having diluted cocaine hidden in bags of fish they would escape detection and net huge profits, but they did not realise their plot had been detected.”
UK Border Agency spokesperson Peter Avery added: “UK Border Agency officers are on constant alert to keep Class A drugs and other banned substances out of the UK and take them out of the supply chain before they reach the streets.”
