Men stuck with £37m of cocaine in boat off Suffolk coast jailed

Two drug smugglers who had been stuck with hundreds of thousands of kilos price of cocaine in an inflatable boat off the Suffolk coast were jailed.

Bruce Knowles, 56, of Dereham, Norfolk, and Ferhat Gumrukguoglu, 32, from the Netherlands, attempted to sneak £37m of cocaine into the United Kingdom.

The defendants had been arrested through the National Crime Agency (NCA) after being discovered with the haul close to Benacre Broad on 24 June final 12 months.

At Ipswich Crown Court, Judge Richard Benson KC sentenced Knowles to 17 years and 3 months in jail and Gumrukguoglu to 15 years and stated it was once “clearly a sophisticated [operation]”.

During the listening to, the courtroom heard how the pair had trialled a “dry run” of the operation in April earlier than making an attempt the true factor two months later.

But in June, they had been faced as regards to the coastline whilst heading in opposition to Lowestoft through Border Force officials who attempted to intercept their rigid-hulled inflatable boat.

Knowles “ignored repeated requests to stop and give up chase” however was once captured and arrested through NCA officials.

Gumrukguoglu jumped overboard earlier than swimming to shore and was once detained 8 hours later after being discovered wandering round Beccles barefoot.

Upon analyzing the boat, officials found out 22 applications below a tarpaulin containing 350kg of cocaine, with a top purity fee of 78 to 84%.

Investigators believed the pair had travelled out to sea, the place they met a bigger send in waters between England and France, earlier than gathering the medication.

Knowles and Gumrukguoglu had then deliberate to switch the medication right into a van, which have been situated in Orton Broad, earlier than transporting them to any other location in a position for distribution.

Alastair Smith, prosecuting, stated the defendants had performed a “leading role” within the operation and there was once “no evidence” they had been “acting under the direction of another”.

Defending Knowles, Stephen Spence, on the other hand, argued that “common sense dictated there must have been others above them” who had been pulling the strings.

“Giving someone £37m of drugs means there is a trust that is not likely to be broken because they know what the outcome would be if they double crossed them,” he added.

“These two people were part of the operational chain but were far from the leading lights of it.”

David Mason, protecting Gumrukguoglu, agreed “there were people higher up” however accredited his consumer have been an “important cog in the wheel”.

He stated Gumrukguoglu had taken at the operation as a result of he was once seeking to “pay off a very significant drug debt” after dropping any other batch of gear within the Netherlands.

Judge Benson took the pair’s earlier accountable pleas under consideration, however stated their “substantial and important” position intended their sentences can be vital.

“If people like you were not prepared to smuggle large quantities of cocaine then cocaine would not be available for addicts in the UK,” he stated.