By THE SCM CRIME REPORTER
IT’S the ultimate shapewear secret—but this wasn’t the kind of extra padding Kim Kardashian had in mind!
A rogue lorry driver has been locked up for more than 13 years after being caught red-handed smuggling a staggering £7.2 million ($9.4 million) worth of cocaine into the UK.
The twist? He used a massive, legitimate shipment of Kim K’s viral Skims underwear to hide his dirty billion-pound cartel secret.
Polish national Jakub Jan Konkel, 40, thought he had the perfect, seamless cover. He was tasked with driving 28 pallets of the reality queen’s highly sought-after body-shaping thongs, bras, and loungewear from the Netherlands across into Britain.
Instead of just delivering the shapewear designed to hold in women’s curves, Konkel decided to line his own pockets by squeezing 90 kilograms (198lb) of pure Class A white powder into the vehicle’s framework.
“Organised crime groups use corrupt drivers like Konkel to move Class A drugs often hidden on entirely legitimate loads such as this.”
— Paul Orchard, National Crime Agency (NCA) Operations Manager
The high-stakes plot unravelled at the Port of Harwich in Essex. Alert Border Force officers pulled over the heavy goods vehicle as it rolled off a ferry coming from the Hook of Holland.
While the millions of British women who swear by Kim’s brand expect a little lift, border cops got the shock of their lives when they put the truck under an X-ray machine
Deep inside the skin of the rear trailer doors, engineers discovered a meticulously modified, custom-built secret compartment. Inside the hidden space were 90 brick-sized packages, each weighing exactly one kilogram, crammed tight and ready for the UK’s streets.
NCA investigators tracking the lorry’s tachograph later proved that Konkel had made a sneaky, undeclared 16-minute stop shortly after picking up the genuine Skims load. It was during this quarter-of-an-hour window that the shadowy drug syndicate packed the multi-million-pound stash into the truck.
At first, Konkel, from Kartuzy in northern Poland, tried to pull a fast one on the detectives. He brazenly denied knowing a single thing about the multi-million-pound brick haul, acting as though he was just a simple delivery guy moving everyday knickers.
But as the NCA closed in, his story ripped at the seams. Konkel finally cracked and pleaded guilty to drug smuggling at Chelmsford Crown Court.
The greedy trucker confessed he had agreed to act as a mule for a measly payday of just €4,500 (£3,800)—ruining his life and landing himself a whopping 13-and-a-half-year prison sentence in the process.
Officials confirmed that neither the innocent clothing exporter nor Kim Kardashian’s multi-billion-dollar Skims empire had absolutely any idea their trendy cargo was being used to fuel Britain’s illicit drug trade.
Speaking after the sentencing, NCA chief Paul Orchard praised the massive bust, saying: “The detection and investigation have removed a significant amount of cocaine whose profits are lost to the crime group behind the smuggling attempt. With Konkel, they’ve lost an important enabler.”
As for Konkel? He’ll be swapping Kim’s famous comfy loungewear for a stiff, grey prison uniform for a very, very long time.
The Brand: Skims is a massive, highly successful global shapewear and clothing brand co-founded by American reality TV icon and billionaire Kim Kardashian in 2019. It is famous for its inclusive sizing and viral second-skin bodysuits.
The Border Bust: In September, Border Force officers at the Port of Harwich in Essex pulled over a heavy goods vehicle arriving via a ferry from the Hook of Holland, Netherlands.
The Smuggler: Jakub Jan Konkel, a 40-year-old Polish truck driver from Kartuzy, was hired by an organised crime gang to abuse a perfectly legitimate shipping route. He made an unauthorized 16-minute stop during his journey to load the drugs.
The Verdict: Following an extensive investigation by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), Konkel was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday, 18 May 2026, to 13 years and six months behind bars.
Both the importer and exporter of the Skims clothing were completely cleared of any involvement.
