Truck Driver Jailed for Smuggling Cocaine in SKIMS Clothing Shipment

A 40-year-old truck driver attempted to bring nearly $10 million worth of cocaine into England. He hid the drugs in a 28-pallet shipment of clothing from Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS brand. Jakub Jan Konkel, a Polish national, received a 13½-year prison sentence from a U.K. court on Monday. He drove a customized vehicle transporting the illegal cargo from the Netherlands to Essex in September.

The authorities found nearly 200 lbs. of cocaine in the truck. The drugs were packaged in 2.2 lb. units and hidden inside a compartment within the vehicle’s back doors. Investigators revealed that Konkel earned $5,243 for transporting the drugs. He was stopped by border officials at a port northeast of London. Konkel and the vehicle arrived on a ferry from the Hook of Holland, where an X-ray revealed the concealed cocaine.

Authorities suspect that the drugs were loaded into Konkel’s truck during a 16-minute stop, as recorded by his tachograph. He failed to mention this stop during an interview with law enforcement. The U.K.’s National Crime Agency confirmed that the parties involved in importing and exporting the clothing were not engaged in the drug smuggling activities. The clothing shipment was legitimate aside from the concealed drugs.

SKIMS, co-founded by Kardashian in 2019, is a company valued at $5 billion. Forbes estimates Kim Kardashian’s personal net worth at nearly $2 billion.