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UK police find cocaine worth $9.3 million stashed in a shipment of Kim Kardashian brand underwear

LONDON (AP) — A British court sentenced a truck driver to prison for smuggling 7 million pounds ($9.4 million) worth of cocaine in a shipment of underwear and clothing from Skims, Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand, authorities said Monday.

The National Crime Agency said Jakub Jan Konkel, 40, was driving a truck carrying 28 pallets of Skims clothing from the Netherlands when he was stopped by border officials at a port in Essex in September.

The agency said Konkel had stopped on the way to collect 90 kilograms (198 pounds) of cocaine, and that the truck had been specially adapted so that he could hide the drugs, wrapped in 1-kilogram (2.2-pound) packages, in a compartment of the truck’s back doors.

The agency said the shipment of clothing was legitimate and neither the exporter nor importer were connected to the smuggled load.

Konkel said he had agreed to transport the drugs for a payment of 4,500 euros ($5,243), according to the agency.

He was sentenced to 13½ years in prison for drug smuggling at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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