Brit drug dealer nabbed in exclusive Ibiza’s club for £20m cocaine and ketamine trafficking

Eddie Burton tried to bring in £20million worth of drugs into the UK from Europe, sneaking them onto lorries bound for Britain before he was apprehended in Ibiza

A 23-year-old British drug trafficker has been arrested in an exclusive nightclub in Ibiza. This comes after he had attempted to smuggle around £20million worth of class A and B drugs into the UK.

Eddie Burton had managed to seal over 300 kilograms of cocaine and ketamine into vacuum packed bags in a flat in Amsterdam, before they were loaded onto lorries that were bound for Britain. However, police were hot on his tail and were able to follow his movements, eventually tracking him down to the Spanish holiday destination.

Despite evidence that he had been behind the drug smuggling, judges postponed the decision to sentence Eddie, on the belief that he was a victim of modern slavery. Since then, Eddie has been sentenced to a total of 19 years in prison after a seven month delay in proceedings.

Canterbury Crown Court heard Eddie — together with his ex-partner Sian Banks, 25 — confessing to a slew of drug-related crimes back in February, according to the Manchester Evening News. At the time, Banks would go on to receive a five-year prison stint, but Eddie’s sentencing was postponed until Friday (September 26).

Eddie, from Liverpool, was first arrested and charged for drug trafficking copious amounts of cocaine, heroin and ketamine during a smuggling operation in Oswestry, Shropshire in the spring of 2021. However, after being charged, Eddie fled the country and soon built himself up in the drug trafficking business, all while switching between Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.

During this time, Eddie had played a substantial role in attempting to bring over 300 kilograms of drugs into the UK, including 192 kilograms of cocaine, 25 kg of heroin and 90kg of ketamine. It was also revealed that Banks had been supporting Eddie financially whilst he was on the run across Europe, and even had forged fake COVID-19 vaccination certificates during the pandemic.

In 2022, while on the run, Eddie was apprehended by authorities several times for the “illicit trade of narcotics”. He was also secretly building a machine to help vacuum-pack drugs in Amsterdam that would be supplied elsewhere; in total, 135 packages were made using this machine.

The pair’s plan began to unravel after UK Border Force intercepted the lorries containing the drugs, even with Banks transporting the drugs in her hand luggage through Liverpool John Lennon Airport. Fearing his cover was blown, Eddie relocated to Spain, and was now thousands of pounds in debt after supposedly not packing the drugs properly.

However, despite the promise of good work opportunities in Spain, he was eventually busted at Ibiza’s Pacha nightclub for an unrelated drug dealing offence. He was later extradited to Germany and then the UK in March of 2024.

Banks pleaded guilty seven charges at a hearing in February this year, with Burton giving guilty pleas to four of the charges made against him. However, his sentencing was delayed after he claimed he had been coerced into going abroad to settle the debt, with the case being adjourned until Friday.

Speaking on the case, John Turner from the National Crime Agency, welcomed the pair’s prison sentence. He explained: “The drugs, had they reached their final destination, would have had a destructive impact on our communities, fuelling violence and exploiting vulnerable people throughout the supply chain.”

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