ESSEX, UK — A professional pilot who attempted to smuggle £2.4 million worth of cocaine into the UK using his light aircraft has been jailed for nine years, following a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation.
Anastasios Balian, 52, and Errol McCardo Weir, 49, were arrested on March 20, 2025, after landing a small plane at North Weald Airfield in Epping, Essex, on a flight from Belgium via Calais.
Border Force officers stopped and searched the aircraft, uncovering a concealed compartment in the rear seats. Inside were 30 one-kilogram blocks of cocaine, with a street value of approximately £2.4 million.
Weir, a photographer from Lewisham, south London, admitted the drug smuggling charge in April at Chelmsford Crown Court. Balian, who operates an aerial survey company based in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, pleaded guilty the following May.
Investigators discovered WhatsApp messages between the pair, including one linking to a news article titled “Gang use small aircraft to drop cocaine into Dorset.” Balian joked that the gang must have watched American Made, the Tom Cruise film based on real-life airborne cocaine trafficking.
This week, Chelmsford Crown Court sentenced:
Errol Weir to seven years
Anastasios Balian to nine years
NCA Operations Manager Paul Orchard said:
“Anastasios Balian used his expertise and apparent legitimacy to enable this attempted importation of Class A drugs. These substances destroy lives. The organised crime groups that traffick them don’t care about that, they only care about money. Balian and Weir were part of that crime group.”
He added that the NCA, alongside Border Force, will continue targeting those responsible for trafficking dangerous drugs into the UK.
