Five men jailed over plot to bring nearly half a tonne of cocaine into Eastbourne Marina
National Crime Agency says the 425kg haul was worth £34m
Five men arrested as they moved nearly half a tonne of cocaine into Eastbourne Marina have been jailed.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) said the 425kg haul had a street value of £34m.
The men were arrested on 8th June as they hauled the drugs off a fishing vessel called the New Horizon.
They were sentenced at Hove Crown Court on Friday.
The NCA said officers had been investigating the men's organised crime group for a number of months and were watching them when they struck.
How the plot worked
The NCA said the Class A drugs were bundled up in waterproof bags, fitted with a GPS tracker and dropped overboard from another vessel in the English Channel.
The crew's job was to collect them, bring them to shore and move them on to other crime groups across the country.
The NCA said two men, 49-year-old Alan Colquhoun, from Alloa in Clackmannanshire, and 38-year-old William Donohoe, from Airdrie, led the group.
It said they directed the other men and liaised with the crime group that had trafficked the drugs from abroad.
Both expected an £80,000 pay day after the drugs were retrieved, the NCA said.
The NCA said the pair carried out reconnaissance along the south coast and plotted where to bring the drugs ashore.
It said they hired a van in Scotland, saying it would be used to move pub stock, and drove it south to move the cocaine.
The arrests
The NCA said the pair recruited 50-year-old Ian Smith, the skipper of the New Horizon, to sail out and find the drugs.
Smith, a fisherman from Eastbourne, was on the boat with Colquhoun, 32-year-old Jacob Cronin and 36-year-old Daniel Ruffell.
Cronin, from Eastbourne, was a fisherman by trade and helped prepare the boat before it set sail, the NCA said.
Ruffell, from Slough, acted as the group's lookout. The NCA said he owed the crime group behind the importation a significant debt and joined the crew to help pay it off.
He hid in a cupboard on board when armed NCA officers went on to the boat.
Donohoe stayed on land while the others were at sea and was arrested at a petrol station.
The sentences
Colquhoun and Donohoe were each sentenced to 16 years in prison. This was reduced from 24 years because of their early guilty pleas.
Smith was jailed for 12 years, reduced from 18 years for his guilty plea.
Ruffell, who the NCA said has 21 convictions for 43 previous offences, was jailed for eight years. This was reduced from 12 years for admitting his guilt.
Cronin was jailed for six years and eight months, reduced from 10 years for his early guilty plea.
What the NCA and CPS said
NCA Senior Investigating Officer Carl Barrass said: "Colquhoun and Donohoe acted for a crime group with international reach and were crucial logistics men moving very large amounts of Class A drugs into the UK."
He also said: "The NCA investigation has not only taken out these five men who are now toxic to fellow criminals, but has removed nearly half a tonne of cocaine whose profits are lost to the OCG."
He added: "Tackling the Class A drugs threat is a priority for the NCA and we will keep working with partners at home and abroad to keep these vile substances out of our communities where they cause huge damage."
Shilpa Chauhan, from the Serious Economic Organised and International Crime Division at the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "This was a highly sophisticated conspiracy to smuggle millions of pounds worth of class A drugs into the UK."
She also said: "Importations on this scale cause immense harm to our communities, feeding addiction and funding further organised crime. The sentences handed down reflect the serious roles each of these defendants played in this operation, from those who organised and directed the conspiracy, to those who carried out its logistics on the ground."
She added: "The CPS worked closely with the National Crime Agency to build a strong case, and we are pleased to have secured guilty pleas from all defendants. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to prosecute those involved in organised drug trafficking."
Other agencies involved
The NCA said officers from the National Deep Rummage Team, part of Border Security Command Maritime, supported its search of the vessel and helped secure evidence.
It said the investigation was also assisted by the Maritime, Aviation and Military Intervention Cell, Sussex Police and Police Scotland, where a number of searches were carried out.