A ruthless cyber conman who exploited elderly pensioners—including an 80-year-old man—to smuggle deadly Class A drugs has been sentenced to over nine years in prison.
Tonny Iheoma Ezeh, 51, deceived vulnerable victims through email scams, convincing them they had won large sums of money but needed to travel abroad to collect it. Instead, he manipulated two German pensioners, aged 80 and 67, into unknowingly transporting approximately 3 kilograms of methamphetamine hidden inside boxes of Elvan Chocolate Truffles through Heathrow Airport.
The innocent men were stopped separately by Border Force officers on October 18 and 21 last year. Both were initially charged with drug smuggling but were later cleared after investigators exposed Ezeh’s fraudulent scheme.
Operating from Mexico, Ezeh, who holds passports from Nigeria, Canada, and Jamaica, coordinated drug shipments globally as part of a West African crime network. His targets were elderly victims tricked into traveling to Mexico, signing fake paperwork, and carrying drug-laced chocolates with promises of millions waiting for them in Hong Kong.
Their plans were thwarted at Heathrow, Britain’s largest airport, where Border Force intervened. Ezeh was apprehended by the National Crime Agency (NCA) upon entering the UK on December 23.
At Isleworth Crown Court, Ezeh pleaded guilty on May 13 and was sentenced to nine years and three months in prison.
NCA Operations Manager Peter Jones condemned Ezeh as a “callous criminal” who preyed on vulnerable seniors, showing no regard for the trauma caused by their arrests in foreign countries.
Jones urged the public to be cautious, saying, “If an offer is too good to be true, it very likely is,” and encouraged anyone asked to transport goods to think carefully before agreeing.
The NCA and international partners remain committed to combating the threat of Class A drugs entering the UK.
