A TAXI driver who claimed he had nothing to do with his passenger being caught with a block of cocaine worth more than £85,000 has been found guilty.

Pajtim Meta and Albert Nikolla were accused of trafficking cocaine between Northampton and Milford Haven.

Nikolla, 26, of Plough Way in London, previously admitted possession with intent to supply cocaine and being concerned in the supply of cocaine, and on the day of trial admitted a separate offence – based in London – of cocaine possession on June 9 last year.

Meta, of Ruskin Road in Northampton, denied trafficking cocaine and an alternative charge of possession of cocaine, as well as being concerned in the supply of cocaine.

Following two days of evidence, the jury came back into court after just 50 minutes and found Meta guilty of possession with intent to supply and being concerned in the supply of cocaine.

Meta, 26, was remanded back in to custody, and will be sentenced alongside Nikolla on July 29.

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During the trial, the jury were told Meta’s vehicle was stopped on January 18 in the area around the Cleddau Bridge as part of routine traffic checks being carried out by Dyfed-Powys Police.

When Meta pulled over, Nikolla bolted from the back seat and tried to discard a one kilogram block of cocaine, which prosecutor Caitlin Brazel said had a street value “in excess of £85,000”.

Meta originally told officers he was a taxi driver who did not know his co-defendant and had never been to Pembrokeshire before.

“This was a blatant lie,” Ms Brazel said.

“He knew exactly what Albert Nikolla was caught throwing out of his car, and he was doing everything in his power to distance himself.

“If he was simply just a taxi driver with no involvement at all, why lie?”

ANPR cameras showed that Meta’s car had made “nine separate trips” from Northampton to Milford Haven between November 2023 and January 2024, and CCTV footage showed him together with Nikolla on these trips.

When presented with this evidence, Meta admitted he had driven Nikolla on each of these occasions, and had previously lied “because he was scared” of a long prison sentence.

Ms Brazel said that officers found three iPhones and clear snap bags when they searched Meta’s house, as well as £1,880 in cash hidden behind his boiler.

The jury heard Meta had also searched on his phone whether fingerprints last on plastic bags two weeks before he was arrested.

Llewellyn Culver-Evans, defending, said Meta had never been in trouble with the police before.

“He panics because he’s just been told that the passenger in the back of his car has been caught carrying a kilo of cocaine,” he said.