BBC News, South West
Four men have been jailed for conspiring to smuggle about £18m worth of cocaine into the UK after being chased by police in a boat off Cornwall.
Scott Johnson, Terry Willis, Michael May and Edwin Tabora Baca were all sentenced at Truro Crown Court on Friday.
Johnston and Tabora Baca were caught by police running away on a beach having disembarked from a boat laden with drugs after being chased for 28 miles, while May and Willis were arrested elsewhere on the Cornish coast waiting to transport the drugs.
Judge James Adkin said the cocaine was destined for the streets of London and Essex and had the “potential for grave societal harm”.
NATIONAL CRIME AGENCYHe said: “This was an international conspiracy to smuggle a large quantity of cocaine into the UK via a smuggling operation into the South West.”
Johnson, 37 from Havant in Hampshire was sentenced to 24 years in prison, and Willis, 44 from Chelmsford in Essex to 21 years and eight months.
May, 47, from Kelveden Hatch in Essex received a sentence of 19 years, with Tabora Baca, 32, a Colombian from Honduras of no fixed abode getting 17 years and 7 months, and a deportation order.
Three other men Alex Fowlie, 35, from Chichester in Sussex, Bobbie Pearce, 29, of Brentwood, Essex and Peter Williams, 43, from Havant will be sentenced at a later date.
The court heard a South American cargo ship had dumped 20 water-tight bales of cocaine into the sea, fitted with GPS tracking devices to help the gang find and retrieve them.
The group had only been able to locate 11 of the bales, with Border Force recovering six of those – estimated to have a wholesale value of £10.2m.
Three of the men had been pursued at sea for about an hour by officers before they attempted to run away after going aground on Gwynver Beach near Sennen on 13 September 2024.
Police later tracked down other members of the group using CCTV and phone records.
Barry Vinall, senior investigating officer with the National Crime Agency, said the investigation was “highly complex”, but the the sentences sent a “clear message to anyone considering getting involved” in smuggling.
He said witnesses who saw the boat and beach chase described it as like “something out of movie scene”.
“These are substantial sentences for four men who didn’t care about the misery cocaine causes, they just wanted to make a profit.
“Cocaine is one of the most harmful illegal drugs in the UK, linked to thousands of deaths and fuelling violent crime that wrecks communities and lives.”
NATIONAL CRIME AGENCYMay and Johnston had denied the charge but were convicted after a trial at Truro Crown Court in June.
The other men admitted conspiracy to import Class A drugs.
Willis also admitted money laundering and possessing a revolver and live ammunition, which were found in a rucksack in his bedroom cupboard.
The judge said two organised crime groups were involved – one in the South West to retrieve the drugs, and the other in Essex where the cocaine would have been cut and sold on to street dealers.
