Two Polish smugglers tried to slip $2.2 million worth of Colombia cocaine into the UK by dissolving the drug and hiding it in the water of hundreds of tropical fish, reported the BBC.
In July, they sent a second shipment with 17 killograms of cocaine dissolved in the water of nearly 550 tropical.The fish were left for two days at the airport before being picked up.
The few surviving fish, including stingrays, catfish and tetras, are recovering at the London Zoo.
Rachel Jones, team leader of the aquarium, said the case was “really quite unusual”.
“We do work with the authorities to take confiscations but they’re usually of marine creatures like corals,” she told the BBC.
She said that the fish were very skinny and malnourished when they arrived at the aquarium because of the terrible water quality, which had been deprived of oxygen. But several months later they were “quite plump and doing really, really well,” she added.
Urlik and Jarzabek both admitted conspiracy to import Class A drugs at a hearing in January.