Steven Bullen, a 51-year-old British expatriate formerly of Hornchurch, Essex, was sentenced to 16 years and four months in prison at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday for masterminding a £109 million drugs network. Bullen operated from his luxury villa in Marbella, Spain, importing, producing, and supplying large quantities of cocaine, ecstasy, and amphetamine over a 10-month period between August 2019 and May 2020.
Operation Venetic and Encrochat takedown
The National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation began as part of Operation Venetic, the UK response to the dismantling of Encrochat, an encrypted phone service used by criminals. French and Dutch authorities first breached the network, providing UK investigators with thousands of messages sent by a user with the handles ‘Domesticcar’ and ‘Rocketspark’. These messages revealed a massive drug importation scheme.
NCA officers meticulously pieced together the communications to identify Bullen as the user. They found that he had smuggled 1.1 tonnes of cocaine with a street value of £88 million into the UK via the Netherlands. The drugs were intended for distribution across the UK.
Corrupt courier employee Zak Archbold
Zak Archbold, 30, of Braintree, Essex, a former team leader at a UPS depot in Stanford-Le-Hope, was sentenced to 12 years for conspiring with Bullen to smuggle cocaine. Archbold abused his position to facilitate the passage of around 28 parcels, each containing up to 12 kg of cocaine, through the depot. He received advance notice of which parcels would be inspected by Border Force officers and swapped labels to ensure the drugs went undetected. Encrochat messages showed Archbold was due to be paid £750 per kilogram of cocaine successfully smuggled.
Archbold was sacked by UPS after an internal investigation into parcel theft, but the NCA, using Encrochat evidence, proved his involvement in the drug smuggling operation.
Scale of the operation
Within Bullen’s Encrochat messages, officers found photos of ledgers detailing prices for cocaine and ecstasy. Bullen conspired to supply 410 kg of imported cocaine (street value £32.8 million) and 242 kg of ecstasy (street value £9.68 million). He also discussed recipes for producing amphetamine, or “trainers,” and had access to chemicals enabling production of up to 2,250 kg of the drug, worth £11.25 million. The total estimated value of the network’s activities reached £109 million.
Arrest and extradition
A breakthrough came when NCA officers found images of Bullen’s villa in the Encrochat messages. With assistance from Spanish National Police and judicial authorities, Bullen was arrested at his Marbella villa on April 8, 2025. Officers seized phones, a laptop, and USB sticks containing around 250 spreadsheets detailing drug supplies and payments. Archbold was arrested the following day. Bullen was extradited to the UK in August 2025 and pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court on December 9, 2025. Archbold was found guilty of conspiring to import Class A drugs on April 2, 2026, after a trial.
Statements from authorities
Senior investigating officer Steve Black of the NCA said: “I believe Bullen felt unreachable because he was living in Spain and hiding his criminality on an encrypted phone. Bullen didn’t reckon on the NCA working with police forces across Europe to expose his multi-million-pound drug enterprise, to track him down and bring him back to the UK to face justice.” He added that Archbold was “driven by greed” and that the operation “put a stop to Bullen’s extensive cocaine business.”
Gemma Vincent from the Crown Prosecution Service stated: “Steven Bullen led an established organised crime group involved in the importation, production and supply, of controlled drugs. From his base in Spain he directed the widespread distribution of a staggering volume of drugs and the collection and movement of criminal money.” She confirmed that prosecutors will seek to confiscate their illicit gains.
