A DRUG kingpin arrested while partying at an Ibiza nightclub for a £20million drug ring he ran with his ex-girlfriend has been jailed.
The couple from Merseyside plotted to smuggle over 300 kilos of drugs in two lorries in the summer of 2022.
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Eddie Burton, 23, from Liverpool was jailed for 19 years at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday, September 26.
His glam ex-girlfriend, Sian Banks, 25, was sentenced to five years in February of this year.
Burton had been living in mainland Europe in 2022 when two lorries were intercepted at Dover Port containing heroin, cocaine and ketamine.
The first of those lorries was stopped by Border Force on July 3 and the second was intercepted the following month on August 12.
Overall, officers discovered a whopping 307 kilos with an estimated street value of £20million.
Burton’s fingerprints were found on both the drug packages as well as the modified fuel tank that was used to conceal them.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) launched a huge manhunt for Burton who was living between the Netherlands and Spain after he left the UK in 2021.
Burton was put in cuffs by Spanish police in August 2023 at the Pacha nightclub in Ibiza for unrelated drug dealing offences.
He had been using an alias to avoid being caught at the time but was extradited to Germany and charged with drug offences before he was returned to the UK in March last year.
Following that, Burton pleaded guilty to four counts of importing Class A and B drugs.
According to the MailOnline, Burton was involved in drugs from an early age and started dealing them at 10 years old.
Those who knew him said he was engaging in serious criminal activity while he was still at primary school and weren’t surprised by his life’s trajectory.
Whereas Banks had a love of luxury holidays and high-end goods with a fondness for men with money, according to those who knew her.
She was arrested in December 2023 before she pleaded guilty to seven charges including importing Class A drugs and money laundering earlier this year.
She had visited Burton in the Netherlands and Spain on a monthly basis between June 2022 and October 2023.
Her phone had also revealed that she had twice smuggled cocaine and ketamine into her luggage after visiting Burton in Amsterdam in August 2022.
Messages were also uncovered between the pair two days after the first lorry was intercepted.
They showed that Banks had flown to the Netherlands and helped prepare the first shipment of narcotics.
One of the messages to Burton revealed Banks was concerned her fingerprints were on the bags of ketamine.
He replied: “You’ve never been nicked or had ye prints took anyway so doesn’t matter.”
It was also discovered that banks had sold scam Covid-19 travel documents during the pandemic.
NCA Senior Investigating Officer John Turner said: “Burton, with Banks’ help, attempted to smuggle huge quantities of harmful drugs into the UK, believing he could operate with impunity overseas.
“Banks held a crucial role in the criminal enterprise, laundering the illicit profits and acting as the UK-based facilitator for the multi-million pound drug importations.
“The drugs, had they reached their final destination, would have had a destructive impact on our communities, fuelling violence and exploiting vulnerable people throughout the supply chain.”
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