Content Advisory: This article discusses cocaine smuggling, organized crime, criminal charges, and a prison sentence. Reader discretion is advised.
Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS team is speaking out after the brand’s products were linked to a major overseas cocaine smuggling bust.
A truck carrying SKIMS merchandise was stopped by British authorities at the Port of Harwich in Essex, England, after arriving by ferry from Hook of Holland in the Netherlands. According to the U.K.’s National Crime Agency, officers later found more than $8.4 million worth of cocaine hidden inside the vehicle.
Authorities said the shipment of SKIMS products was legitimate and that neither the exporter nor the importer was connected to the criminal operation.
SKIMS is now making the same point very clearly.
SKIMS Says It Had No Connection To Smuggling Operation
“SKIMS is aware of the recent news involving a shipment with our products,” a company spokesperson said.
The statement continued, “We want to be absolutely clear: SKIMS had no knowledge whatsoever about this criminal activity. We had no connection to the smuggling operation, the driver, or the truck.”
The response came after the brand was pulled into headlines because the truck was carrying 28 pallets of SKIMS merchandise at the time of the drug bust.
Investigators said Border Force officers used X-ray scanning on the truck and noticed irregularities in the trailer’s construction.
A search later uncovered a hidden compartment built into the rear trailer doors.
Cocaine Found In Truck Carrying SKIMS Products
Authorities said officers found 90 one-kilogram packages of cocaine concealed inside the hidden compartment.
The driver was identified as 40-year-old Jakob Jan Konkel, a Polish national from Kartuzy in northern Poland.
Investigators said Konkel initially denied knowing about the cocaine. However, he later pleaded guilty to drug smuggling charges and admitted he had agreed to transport the narcotics in exchange for 4,500 euros.
Officials also reviewed tachograph data from the truck and found a suspicious 16-minute stop that Konkel allegedly failed to mention during questioning. Investigators believe the drugs were loaded during that stop with the knowledge of Konkel and the organized crime group behind the operation.
Driver Sentenced To Over 13 Years
Konkel was sentenced to 13 years and six months in prison during a May 18 hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court.
NCA operations manager Paul Orchard said the case showed how organized crime groups exploit legitimate commercial deliveries.
“Organized crime groups use corrupt drivers like Konkel to move Class A drugs, often hidden on entirely legitimate loads such as this,” Orchard said.
He added that the seizure removed a major amount of cocaine from circulation and cut into the profits of the criminal group behind the attempt.
“The detection and investigation have removed a significant amount of cocaine whose profits are lost to the crime group behind the smuggling attempt,” Orchard said.
SKIMS Pulled Into Unwanted Headlines
Kardashian launched SKIMS in September 2019 as a shapewear brand. It quickly expanded into sleepwear, loungewear, and sportswear, becoming one of her biggest business ventures.
By late 2025, the company was reportedly valued at around $5 billion.
That success also means the brand name travels globally, sometimes in ways the company cannot control. In this case, authorities said the criminal network used a legitimate SKIMS shipment as cover for a multimillion-dollar smuggling attempt.
For SKIMS, the message is blunt: the products were real, the shipment was legitimate, but the brand says it had no role in the crime.
