Gang sentenced to more than 100 years for drugs crimes

Five men who plotted to collect 255kg of high-purity cocaine in the English Channel and import it into the UK have been convicted at Kingston Crown Court and handed prison sentences totalling 104 years.

The gang were caught following an extensive investigation by the Middle Market Drugs Partnership which included surveillance onshore and at sea carried out by several law enforcement agencies.

With accomplices Daniel Payne, Scott Birtwhistle and Montenegrin national Zoran Dresic, lobster fisherman Jamie Green sailed his fishing vessel from Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight into the Channel to retrieve 11 watertight holdalls filled with the drugs. These had been deposited into the water from a container ship, the MSC Oriane, as it travelled en route to Antwerp from Brazil.

The four then took the fishing boat, Galwad-Y-Mor, to Freshwater Bay off the coast of the Isle of Wight, where it was tracked by UK Border Agency cutter HMC Vigilant and observed manoeuvring erratically before heading back to Yarmouth.

The men were arrested later that day on May 30 last year.

The following morning, officers from the joint Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA)-Metropolitan Police Middle Market Drugs Partnership and UK Border Agency recovered the drugs – worth up to £53 million on UK streets – after a report from the local coastguard. Hampshire Police officers had also participated in the surveillance operation.

The holdalls had each been tied along a rope in a manner closely resembling that of submerged lobster pots, with a buoy and a makeshift anchor tied to either end to aid its later recovery by the gang.

Subsequent investigations led to the arrest in turn of Birtwhistle and Jonathan Beere, who was in regular telephone contact with Green during the drugs run.

GPS tracking data was used retrospectively to plot the courses of two ships up to the drugs being collected in the early hours of May 30.

Chris Farrimond, from SOCA, said: “This operation has prevented huge amounts of cocaine from reaching the streets of the UK, and demonstrates the strength of collaborative UK agency work to tackle the class A drugs trade.

“These men believed their meticulously-planned drugs run would look like a commercial fishing expedition. Rather than bringing them massive profits, however, their plan has put them in the same unenviable position as many others who have been caught attempting to traffic drugs under the guise of legitimate business.”

Beere, Dresic and Green each received 24-year sentences, with Payne and Birtwhistle handed 18 and 14-year prison terms respectively.