Eddie Burton trafficked huge quantities of drugs to pay back “Chog” and enlisted his then partner Sian Banks to help
Eddie Burton and Sian Banks (Image: NCA )
A Merseyside cocaine and ketamine smuggler who attempted to ship £20m of drugs from Europe into England was arrested in Ibiza’s Pacha nightclub. Eddie Burton, 23, vacuum packed over 300kg of class A and B drugs while holed up in an Amsterdam flat before the haul was loaded onto lorries bound for the UK.
Border Force officers stopped the first lorry on July 3 2022 and found 90 kilos of ketamine and 50 kilos of cocaine packed into boxes and a Lidl shopping bag. The second lorry was intercepted just six weeks later, on August 12. Inside officers discovered 142 kilos of cocaine and 25 kilos of heroin in a fuel tank that had been modified to conceal the drugs.
Burton appeared at Canterbury Crown Court alongside his ex-partner Sian Banks, 25, in February this year after admitting a series of drugs offences. Banks was sentenced to five years in prison during the February appearance, but Burton’s sentencing was adjourned by Judge Simon Taylor KC due to concerns he was a victim of modern slavery.
Burton appeared back before the same court today for a trial of issue. Judge Taylor proceeded to sentence Burton to 19 years in prison.
Opening the case in February, Paul Valder, prosecuting, said: “This case is about drug smuggling and drug supply. Those drugs being cocaine, heroin and ketamine. These defendants Eddie Burton and Sian Banks are, or were, partners. They are both from Liverpool. Eddie Burton is a convicted drug supplier and he has now pleaded guilty to being a drug smuggler.
Eddie Burton, 23, originally of Liverpool(Image: NCA)
“Having been arrested and charged in the spring of 2021 for his part in a drug supply operation in Oswestry, Burton fled the country. He carried on playing his part in the drugs business whilst moving between Holland, Germany and Spain. He was involved on two occasions when very substantial consignments of drugs were smuggled into the UK by lorry via Dover.
“They amounted to 192 kg of cocaine, 25kg of heroin and 90 kg of ketamine. The defendant Sian Banks was linked forensically to one of those importations, her DNA being on the packaging surrounding some of the drugs. It is evident from her phone and other sources that she was a regular traveller between Liverpool and Holland or Spain to be with Burton.
“It is also evident from her phone that on two occasions she smuggled cocaine and/or ketamine back to the UK in her luggage on behalf of Burton to pass on to others, albeit there is no indication about how much those consignments were. She allowed her bank accounts to receive money to support Burton while he was on the run in Europe. On a separate charge, she also provided forged Covid-19 passes to facilitate the travel of others between the UK and mainland Europe.”
Sian Banks, 25, of Liverpool pleaded guilty on the opening day of her trial
The court heard that while in Europe, Burton was arrested for “illicit trafficking in narcotics” on March 29 2022 while en route to a music festival. He later moved to Spain where Banks visited him on a number of occasions. On May 31 of the same year, Burton told his partner that he was in a car on route to Amsterdam where he was going to get a vacuum packing machine to package drugs.
Mr Valder said “there is a clear inference he was going to be put into a flat and vacuum packing drugs for onward supply”. He added messages showed that Banks knew full well what Burton was talking about when he referred to vacuum packing “tops” – a slang term for cocaine. The flat was later identified as in the north of Amsterdam, with the pair’s dog Marley staying at the flat.
The court heard Banks visited the flat between June 17 and 20 2022, with Burton saying in a message the following day that he was going to be busy with “135 bits”. The court heard her reaction of “wowza” suggested she knew exactly what he was referring to.
Drugs were found concealed in a lorry travelling through Dover and traced back to Eddie Burton and Sian Banks
Banks visited her partner again between June 24 and June 26 and a few days later the lorry laden with cocaine and ketamine began its journey. Messages between Banks and her friend referenced that he was involved in the drug plot because he needed to pay “Chog” back.
On July 3 Border Force officers stopped the lorry at the Dover freight lanes border and found boxes and a carrier containing 50kg of cocaine and 90kg of ketamine, with a street value of over £6.5m. Forensic examinations were carried out and Burton’s DNA was found on a packet containing white powder marked “Jota K1”. The court heard messages showed that the drugs were smuggled for or on behalf of someone called Jota.
Two days later Burton told Banks the lorry had been stopped, with the latter panicking that her fingerprints would be on the bags. The court heard Burton reassured her that because she had never been arrested her fingerprints won’t be on file. He however had reason to be concerned, but believed his fingerprints wouldn’t be identified because he had been wearing gloves.
Messages in the following days showed Banks asking her boyfriend for money, complaining that she worked all week only to run out of money by the weekend, while “he earns enough in 10 minutes to last three months”. The court heard that she visited Amsterdam again between August 5 and August 9, at which time a second lorry left Poland en route for Dover.
This time Border Force officers found an adapted fuel tank which had a hatch which, when opened, contained packages containing 142kg of cocaine and 25kg of heroin. The drugs were valued as around £12.7m street value. Fingerprints and DNA analysis resulted in multiple matches to Burton.
Drugs packaged into a lorry by Eddie Burton and Sian Banks(Image: NCA)
Burton also got his partner Banks to smuggle cocaine and ketamine through Liverpool John Lennon Airport in her luggage. On the second occasion, messages showed her concern that the “cocaine smells so strong that the ketamine smells of it as well”. Around the same time Burton expressed concerns that his flat in Amsterdam was being watched.
He told “Chog” who told him to move everything to “Galloways”. Banks visited again between September 30 and October 6, with Burton complaining that although he had paid off £50,000 of debt, it had risen to £16,000 because he had been blamed for not vacuum packing the drugs haul properly.
Burton later moved to Spain after the offer of more work. He was later arrested at Ibiza’s Pacha nightclub for unrelated drug dealing offences under the false name Ewan Banks. He was later extradited to Germany and charged with drug offences, he was returned to the UK in March 2024 by specialist national extradition unit officers from the NCA’s joint international crime centre.
Banks pleaded guilty to a total of seven charges on 3 February, including importing class A drugs and money laundering. Judge Taylor told her that when she began a relationship with Burton “for whatever reason you both immersed yourselves in serious cross-border criminality”.
Burton subsequently pleaded guilty to four counts of importing class A and B drugs. His sentencing was repeatedly delayed because he handed a letter to the judge during his February appearance and claimed he had been ordered to go abroad to pay off a debt. The court heard that Burton wrote: “There were things I could have done differently but threats against life were made towards my family.”
After reading the letter the judge said “there are threats of modern slavery going through the letter…if the defendant maintains that, we need to think what we want to do with it. It’s not as simple as simply abandoning it”. The court heard Burton was “an important cog in a bigger wheel” and all counsel were reluctant to move ahead with sentencing until the full facts were established.
Judge Taylor told Burton in February that he was “not prepared to take the risk” and adjourned sentencing. Burton shouted he had “lied in the letter” and added: “It’s going to be the same outcome regardless” as he was led to the cells.
Speaking after sentencing, NCA senior officer John Turner said: “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.”