One lorry driver jailed over 70 cannabis bags hidden in trailer
Kirk Hackett was sentenced to three years and nine months after a lorry stop near Doncaster uncovered cannabis concealed beneath the trailer floor. The NCA said the load was hidden in 70 bags and valued at £2.1 million; accounts do not reconcile on its total weight.
🇬🇧 Sheffield Crown Court, Sheffield, South Yorkshire · United Kingdom
On 10 April 2025, Kirk Hackett, 30, from Dungannon, was jailed for three years
and nine months at Sheffield Crown Court after admitting possession with intent
to distribute a Class B drug.[1]Hackett was arrested by National Crime Agency
officers after his lorry was stopped on the A1 near Doncaster, where cannabis
was found concealed beneath the trailer floor.[2]South Yorkshire Police
searched the lorry on behalf of the NCA.[3]Officers removed the trailer floor
and found a coil well, designed to carry cylindrical items, being used to
conceal the cannabis.[3]
Investigators said Hackett had travelled from Larne port to Cairnryan two days
earlier and then drove to Sheffield, where he had collected the drugs.[3]He
was heading to collect animal feed as a cover load before returning to Northern
Ireland.[3]A search of the cab found a drill, drill bits, screws matching
those used to install the false floor, and six false number plates.[3]The NCA
said the lorry also had false registration plates and a false insurance
certificate, making a police stop less likely.[3]
Hackett appeared at Doncaster Magistrates’ Court charged with possession with
intent to supply and was remanded in custody.[4]Hackett pleaded guilty at
Sheffield Crown Court on 24 October 2024.[5]The seizure formed part of an NCA
investigation into a suspected crime network based in Northern Ireland.[4]
Photos and video
Cannabis found concealed in a trailer floor during the NCA operation; no separate photo credit is listed.Photo details
The 2024 BBC and Irish News accounts state 73 kg, while the later NCA statement and Doncaster Free Press describe 70 bags weighing one kilo each; the total weight is unreconciled, so no weight figure is recorded.
The 10 April 2025 sentencing date is taken from the publication dates of the BBC and Doncaster Free Press accounts; the NCA release of 14 April says only that Hackett was sentenced at the same court “last week.”
The initial BBC account also describes a separate seizure and arrests at Killingholme as part of the wider inquiry; those are outside Hackett’s A1 stop and case.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in National Crime Agency via WiredGov: The stop took place on 3 May 2024.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in National Crime Agency via WiredGov: The NCA said the concealed cannabis was packed in 70 large bags and valued the haul at £2.1 million.
Callum Roper, 22, of Holton Road, Barry, was jailed for 30 months at Cardiff Crown Court after admitting offences involving the supply of cannabis and magic mushrooms. He pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of both drugs between 3 December 2025 and 14 September 2026 and had been remanded in custody awaiting sentence.
Bolton Crown Court sentenced seven members of three linked drug gangs that trafficked cocaine and cannabis between Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent and North Wales. Five men received prison sentences of up to eleven and a half years, while two couriers received community orders and two leaders await later sentencing.
Daniel Thompson, 36, was found with 8,223.6 grams of cannabis resin, valued at up to £35,950, when officers searched a house on Moss Side Lane in Rixton in July 2023. Chester Crown Court gave him a nine-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months and 100 hours of unpaid work after he admitted possessing the resin with intent to supply and possessing cocaine.
Sentenced 1Cannabis 8.2236 kgPrison 9 months suspended for 12 months
Bradford Crown Court jailed Alfie Leahy, 21, for five years and Connor Broadbent, 26, for three years and four months over drugs found when police raided two homes in the Holmewood area at dawn on 17 July 2026. Cannabis was seized at a Grayswood Crescent address and cocaine, cash and jewellery at Dawson Street; police put the total street value of the drugs at more than £22,000.
Charged 2Prison 5 years (Leahy); 3 years and 4 months (Broadbent)
