Four men have been jailed for attempting to smuggle almost £11 million worth of 'pink cocaine' to Australia. The drug, which does not actually contain cocaine but a mixture of MDMA, ketamine and caffeine, was hidden within an industrial bench cutting saw and addressed to Castle Hill, a suburb of Sydney.
The load was intercepted after a suspicious driver alerted authorities. The drugs were said to have a street value of £11.3 million in the UK and $57 million in Australia.
Interception and further attempts
The National Crime Agency (NCA) said on 10 October 2024, Lee Brittles, 47, of Dinesen Road, Garston, Liverpool, and Teo Grbesic, 23, of Siroki Brijeg, Bosnia, dropped off the drugs, which weighed 252.8kg and were stamped with Pink Panther logos, to a Fed Ex driver in Liverpool. The driver was suspicious and reported it to Border Force officers, who alerted the NCA.
Brittles and his accomplices made eight further attempts to export drugs to Australia and New Zealand, including through Manchester Airport. On 12 February 2025, Ashley Armstrong, 32, of Chestnut Grove, Wavertree, Liverpool, dropped off a cardboard box destined for New Zealand at a DHL collection point in Lancaster. The package was labelled as vehicle parts but contained 8kg of MDMA. It was scanned at Manchester Airport by Border Force officers and referred to the NCA.
Further seizures and arrests
On 4 March, Brittles and Karl Dalton, 45, of Briardale Road, Mossley Hill, Liverpool, dropped off a parcel at a Fed Ex depot in Warrington. It was addressed to a premises in New Zealand and described as 'vehicle parts' but contained 2.9kg of methamphetamine. Brittles was under surveillance and NCA officers seized the parcel.
The next day, Brittles and Armstrong visited a Fed Ex depot in Speke, Liverpool, and dropped off 11.6kg of MDMA for shipping to New Zealand, again labelled as 'vehicle parts'. Just 48 hours later, on 7 March 2025, the group tried to send 6kg of ketamine to Australia. The drugs, labelled as a whiskey decanter, were dropped off at a parcel depot by an unidentified man. The group was behind another four attempts to smuggle ketamine, cocaine and MDMA to New Zealand and Australia by exploiting the fast parcel delivery system, with NCA officers recovering the drugs each time.
Grbesic fled to Germany following his offending. He was arrested in Duisburg, near the German-Dutch border, and was extradited to the UK in July. All four offenders admitted trying to smuggle Class A and B drugs.
Sentences and ongoing investigation
They were sentenced on 2 October at Liverpool Crown Court. Brittles, who has more than 20 criminal convictions, was sentenced to 17 years and eight months. Grbesic was sentenced to 13 years and four months, Dalton to 12 years, and Armstrong to 10 years and four months.
The NCA said following work with the Australian Federal Police, an offender was identified in relation to planned receipt of the 'pink cocaine'. He has admitted his involvement and will be sentenced in December.
After the hearing, Colin Shackleton, NCA senior investigating officer, said: “Protecting the public from the threat of Class A drugs is a top priority for the National Crime Agency. Working with partners such as Border Force and colleagues in Australia and New Zealand, we have prevented these toxic substances from entering our communities.”
