A British national has been deported back to the United Kingdom (UK) after eight months in custody in South Africa. Benjamin Leslie May was arrested in Cape Town in February 2025 after fleeing Britain in June 2020. May was linked to a cocaine smuggling operation and was wanted in his home country on two charges of conspiracy to supply class A narcotics.
Investigations in Europe led a court in Wales to issue a warrant of arrest for May in September 2023. May was linked to offences allegedly committed between August 2019 and June 2020. He was one of seven suspects linked to the cocaine smuggling operation, with the other six having since been arrested and sentenced.
May is accused of working with a Liverpool-based accomplice to smuggle wholesale amounts of cocaine into the UK and transporting the cash proceeds to London. “May was identified as the user of an encrypted EncroChat device responsible for arranging the distribution of cocaine to various contacts around the country, including in South Wales. “He used the Encrochat handles ‘illusivebone’ and ‘splitcactus.
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On 6 June 2020, a drug courier was arrested while transporting 12kg of cocaine to South Wales,” confirmedWestern Cape NPAspokesperson Eric Ntabazalila. Two 6kg black bags of cocaine were found containing May’s fingerprints, with him leaving Britain shortly afterwards. May is believed to have fled England for France via the Eurotunnel on 7 June 2020, before travelling to South Africa by undisclosed means.
Above: Wanted British drug dealer Ben May in custody in Cape Town. Picture: Supplied / Interpol
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