Two drug smugglers who hid 350 kilos of cocaine in the hull of a boat worth £39m and tried to escape by jumping into the sea have been convicted after a National Crime Agency investigation.
The 55-year-old man from Dereham and the 31-year-old man from the Netherlands, were arrested after the rigid hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) they were travelling on was intercepted near East Benacre Broads in Suffolk.
The two men were seen on board as a Border Force cutter moved in and initially failed to stop during the incident on 24 June.
The 31-year-old man jumped from the vessel and swam towards the beach as the other 55-year-old man restarted the engines and attempted to flee.
Following a short pursuit, the boat was grounded on the beach and officers moved in to arrest the 55-year-old man from Dereham, after he also jumped overboard in a bid to escape.
Officers from Norfolk and Suffolk police also pursued the other man from the Netherlands after he fled from the beach, arresting him later that day in Wrentham, Norfolk.
The boat was towed to a harbour in Lowestoft where it was searched by NCA officers, who found the haul of drugs, worth an estimated £39m, hidden under tarpaulin.
Investigators believe both men travelled towards French waters to pick up the drugs from a larger ship, before bringing them back to the UK.
Both men were interviewed and gave no comment, but were subsequently charged with importing a controlled drug. They pleaded guilty to the offence at Ipswich Crown Court on August 20.
NCA branch commander Lydia Bloomfield said: “Both were working for a wider organised crime group, who will now feel the effects of a loss of this amount.
“Thanks to the work of our Border Force and Joint Maritime Security Centre partners, a very significant amount of class A drugs have been removed from the criminal marketplace where they would have fuelled further criminality and exploitation.”
Border Force deputy director Sally Hawkyard noted: “Our Border Force Officers played a pivotal role in detecting and seizing millions of pounds worth of cocaine, which ensured that these two men were brought to justice.”
