Operation Venetic: Drug dealer caught with five kilos of cocaine imported a further £17m worth

A drug dealer convicted for supplying cocaine has been jailed after his mobile phone showed he had imported more than half a tonne of the class A drug.

Kurtis Hoyte, 35, from Beckenham, was arrested in May 2020, after he was seen handing over five kilos of cocaine with an estimated street value of £180,000 to the driver of a flat-bed truck near Beckenham Hill Station.

After the arrest, Organised Crime Partnership (OCP) officers took three phones from him, one of which was an encrypted EncroChat device. 

Forensic examination of messages showed he had used this to organise the importation of 540 kilos of cocaine over a nine-month period between June 2019 and March 2020.

In October 2020, a jury convicted him in relation to the seizure of cocaine and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Hoyte was convicted again by a jury at Southwark Crown Court on March 25, in relation to drugs and money laundering offences concerning the 540 kilos of cocaine.

He was sentenced to a further 18 years imprisonment at the same court yesterday. The sentences will run concurrently.

Andrew Tickner, of the OCP, said: “From the seizure of a relatively small amount of cocaine, my team was able to build a picture of largescale drug dealing arranged by Kurtis Hoyte.

“He was behind multi-kilo importations which would have seeped on to the streets of London and the UK, leaving a trail of violence and exploitation with them.

“The crucial partnership between the National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police Service has helped put a high-harm offender behind bars for a very long time.

“Our fight against the organised criminal networks behind the drugs trade will never slow down.”

Pictured top: Kurtis Hoyte has been sentenced to 10 years and 18 years to run consecutively (Picture: NCA)