Record haul of cocaine taken from tug in North Sea

Law enforcement agencies in the UK have confiscated three tonnes of cocaine from a ship off the coast of Scotland, believed to be the biggest UK Class A drug seizure on record with an estimated street value of more than £500 million.

Acting on intelligence supplied by the National Crime Agency (NCA), the MV Hammel, an ocean-going tugboat, was intercepted 100 miles east of Aberdeen last week by a Royal Navy frigate and a UK Border Force cutter.

The vessel was taken to Aberdeen harbour where a search led by Border Force officers with specialist deep rummage skills discovered the cocaine. Police Scotland provided operational support.

The crew of MV Hammel – nine Turkish men aged between 26 and 53 – have been charged with drug trafficking. They appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on April 27 and were remanded in custody.

Senior investigating officer for the NCA, John McGowan, said: “The search of this vessel has been lengthy and painstaking, undertaken by hugely skilled specialists working in difficult conditions.”

He said the operation was only possible thanks to the close cooperation between the NCA, the UK Border Force, the Royal Navy, plus the French customs agency DNRED and other international partners.”

It follows the imprisonment of two international drug dealers, who were the subject of a joint FBI and Police Service Northern Ireland operation, for seven years each. Ryan Millligan and Ryan McManus, both from Northern Ireland, used the illegal market site Silk Road to import and export illegal drugs, including cocaine, MDMA and cannabis.

When the men were arrested in August 2013, investigators found almost 40 orders awaiting dispatch to customers in the US, Russia, Sweden, the Republic of Ireland, Greece, Israel and the UK.

Milligan and McManus ordered drugs through emails, website forums and instant messaging services, using suppliers in the Netherlands, China and North America.

They paid with virtual currencies such as Bitcoin or money transfer services. The drugs were then shipped to Northern Ireland through legitimate courier services.