Two men guilty of cocaine smuggling plot into UK

Two men have been convicted of attempting to smuggle hundreds of kilos of cocaine with an estimated street value of nearly £20m into the UK.

Scott Johnston, 37, from Havant, Hampshire, and Michael May, 47, from Kelveden Hatch, Essex, were both found guilty of conspiracy to import Class A drugs following a two-week trial.

A judge at Truro Crown Court told them they both faced long jail sentences.

Five other men have previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to smuggle the drugs into Cornwall. All seven are due to be sentenced in August.

Prosecutor Frederick Hookway told the jury that the drugs were secreted aboard a cargo ship sailing from South America and then off loaded into the English Channel.

"On the way the drugs are off loaded into the sea." he said.

"That may sound rather silly for a valuable commodity," he said, but he explained that black watertight bales of drugs were fitted with a GPS tracking device attached to air tag trackers so that they could be located by a second smaller boat to take to the Cornish coast.

Mr Hookway said a Border Force boat spotted a fast-moving rigid inflatable boat (RIB) in the sea off Cornwall one morning in September last year.

The Border Force vessel deployed its own RIB to intercept the target RIB which had three men in it.

The court was told the target RIB sped off towards land, then dumped drug bales into the sea so the men on board would not be found in possession of their illegal cargo.

The target boat landed at Gwyner Beach at Sennen and the men ran off in all directions but were arrested on the beach.

Johnston was one of three men on board the RIB and was also found to have £2,615 in cash on him, the court heard.

The other two on the RIB previously admitted drugs-related charges.

Mr Hookway said May was arrested in a van on the Cornish coast and was to transport the unloaded drugs.

Mr Hookway said six bundles thrown into the sea were recovered that day and they contained 230 blocks of high purity cocaine, each weighing 1kg (2.2lb), and with a wholesale value of £6.2m, and a street value of £18.4m.

Mr Hookway said at least 150kg (330lb) of cocaine were not recovered from the water.

May did not give evidence and Johnston said he had no prior knowledge of the smuggling operation in the RIB and was not paid any money for going on the trip.

The jury unanimously found the two men guilty.

They have been remanded in custody and all the conspirators are due to be sentenced on 1 August.

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