BBC News, South West
National crime agencyFour people have been imprisoned to plot to smuggle a £ 18 -meter cocaine in Britain after being chased by a police in a boat from Cornwall.
Scott Johnson, Terry Willis, Michael Me and Edwin Tabora Baka were sentenced in True Crown Court on Friday.
Johnston and Tabora Bak were caught running on a beach by the police, which was disintegrated by a drug -laden boat after being chased at a distance of 28 miles, while May and Willis were arrested elsewhere on the cornish coast, waiting to transport drugs.
Judge James Edkin said that cocaine was lucky for London and Essex streets and “had a capacity of serious social loss”.
He said: “It was an international conspiracy to smuggle a large amount of cocaine in Britain through the operation of smuggling in the southwest.”
Johnson, 37 from Havant at Hampshire, was sentenced to 24 years in jail, and Willis, 44, 21 years and eight months from Chemsford in Essex.
May, 47, Essex was sentenced to 19 years from Calveden Hatch, with 17 years and 7 months and a exile order with a Colombian of Tabora Baka, 32, Honduras.
Three other people will be sentenced to Alex Fauli, 35 in Sussex, 35 of Chichter, Brentwood, Essex and Peter Williams, 29 -year -old Bobby Pierce, 43, 43 of Havant, 43.
The court heard that a South American cargo ship dumped 20 water-tongs lumps of cocaine fitted with GPS tracking equipment to help the gang find and reconstruct the gang.
The group was able to detect 11 of the lumps only, with the border force to recover six of them – a wholesale value of £ 10.2m is estimated to be.
On 13 September 2024, the three people were chased at the sea for about an hour before running away after going to Gwinwar Beach near Benen near Benen.
Police later tracked other members of the group using CCTV and phone records.
Senior investigating officer of the National Crime Agency Barry Vinal said the investigation was “highly complex”, but the sentences sent a “clear message” to anyone considering the smuggling.
He said that the witnesses who watched the boat and the beach chase described it as “out of the scene of the film”.
“These are sufficient sentences for four men who did not care about sorrow cocaine reasons, they just wanted to earn a profit.
“Cocaine is one of the most harmful illegal drugs in the UK, which is associated with thousands of deaths and promotes violent crime that ruins communities and life.”
National crime agencyMay and Johnson denied the allegations but they were Convicted after a test In June in True Crown Court.
Other men accepted the conspiracy to import Class A drugs.
Willis also accepted money laundering and a revolver and live ammunition, which was found in a rooksack in his bedroom wardrobe.
The judge stated that two organized crime groups were involved – one to recover drugs in the southwest, and the other in Essex where cocaine would have been cut and sold to street dealers.
