A11 Essex biker had brought 2kg of cocaine to Norfolk

Christoffel Van Rossum, 47, handed over drugs at a secret rendezvous in woods on the outskirts of Norwich as part of an exchange for the cash.  

The hand-over near Horsford was observed by a team of covert police officers who had the man he met under surveillance. 

Van Rossum, from Witham, Essex, was found guilty at Norwich Crown Court of being involved in a conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

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During a week-long trial he had denied handing over drugs and claimed that he had simply been picking up cash on behalf of a friend who lives in Spain.

But a jury delivered a guilty verdict after six and a half hours of deliberations.

Covert police observed the drugs-hand over at Horsford Woods in March 2020 (Image: Newsquest)

When arrested in March 2020 heading back south on the A11 Van Rossum was found with an encrypted mobile phone.

Mark Eldridge, prosecuting, said it had shown he had visited Canvey Island in Essex to pick up drugs before travelling to Norfolk on his Kawasaki.

Undercover police officers who gave evidence in the trial admitted they had not been able to see what was handed over in the woods and that no drugs had been found. 

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However, the jury were told something was passed from Van Rossum to the other man who then returned half an hour later handing something back.

The biker, who had pleaded guilty to possession of criminal property, admitted knowing the cash was linked to crime.

The court was told subsequent investigations had uncovered deposits totalling £23,000 into Van Rossum’s bank account with other large sums paid in following trips to other areas of the country suggesting he was a regular drugs courier.

He will be sentenced at a later date alongside two co-defendants who had previously admitted drug supply offences, one of whom is the man he met in the woods.