British authorities videotape three people who carry out the entire drug transport operation / Two Englishmen have been convicted and a Colombian awaits his sentence
Two drug traffickers who tried to import cocaine with a street value of 42 million pounds to the United Kingdom in a small boat have been convicted after an operation carried out months ago by a Drug Dealer of which spectacular images are now being offered.
Officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) arrested Daniel Livingstone, 25, on the morning of May 4 this year with 524 kilos of cocaine in his van outside a hotel in Lelley, East Yorkshire. He had spent the night at the hotel with two other men who conspired with him to introduce the cocaine; Mark Moran, 23, and Colombian citizen Didier Tordecilla Reyes, 40. The latter would be responsible for the South American organization in the United Kingdom.
Moran and Reyes had sailed a RHIB (rigid-hulled inflatable boat) from the Hessle jetty before returning hours later with the drug haul and unloading it on a beach near Easington caravan park. Livingstone was waiting for them and they had seen him pointing a flashlight at the sea and talking on his mobile phone before they approached.
NCA officers observed Moran and Reyes leaving the RHIB on the beach after unloading several bags into the van. That same day, Moran was in Norwich, where he drove a hire van and an RHIB to Grimsby. There he met Livingstone and Reyes. The suspects continued driving to Hessle and Livingstone stopped to fill two large jerry cans with fuel.
The NCA's investigation was supported by Humberside Police, who provided road and maritime policing assistance, and the Border Force, who provided maritime advice.
Alan French, the NCA's senior investigating officer, said: "There is no doubt that these drugs would have been sold in communities across the UK, but by working with our partners, including Humberside Police and border force, we have disrupted the crimes of this criminal group and greatly reduced the profits they were supposed to make.
A jury at Hull Crown Court convicted Moran of conspiracy to import cocaine on October 28 following an eight-day trial. Livingstone and Tordecilla Reyes pleaded guilty to the same offence on June 5 and July 22 respectively. A fourth man was acquitted by the jury.
At the same court, on December 23, Moran was sentenced to 15 years in prison and Livingstone to seven years and nine months in prison. Reyes is scheduled to be sentenced at a later date.
Two drug traffickers who tried to import cocaine with a street value of 42 million pounds to the United Kingdom in a small boat have been convicted after an operation carried out months ago by a Drug Dealer of which spectacular images are now being offered.
Officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) arrested Daniel Livingstone, 25, on the morning of May 4 this year with 524 kilos of cocaine in his van outside a hotel in Lelley, East Yorkshire. He had spent the night at the hotel with two other men who conspired with him to introduce the cocaine; Mark Moran, 23, and Colombian citizen Didier Tordecilla Reyes, 40. The latter would be responsible for the South American organization in the United Kingdom.
Moran and Reyes had sailed a RHIB (rigid-hulled inflatable boat) from the Hessle jetty before returning hours later with the drug haul and unloading it on a beach near Easington caravan park. Livingstone was waiting for them and they had seen him pointing a flashlight at the sea and talking on his mobile phone before they approached.
NCA officers observed Moran and Reyes leaving the RHIB on the beach after unloading several bags into the van. That same day, Moran was in Norwich, where he drove a hire van and an RHIB to Grimsby. There he met Livingstone and Reyes. The suspects continued driving to Hessle and Livingstone stopped to fill two large jerry cans with fuel.
The NCA's investigation was supported by Humberside Police, who provided road and maritime policing assistance, and the Border Force, who provided maritime advice.
Alan French, the NCA's senior investigating officer, said: "There is no doubt that these drugs would have been sold in communities across the UK, but by working with our partners, including Humberside Police and border force, we have disrupted the crimes of this criminal group and greatly reduced the profits they were supposed to make.
A jury at Hull Crown Court convicted Moran of conspiracy to import cocaine on October 28 following an eight-day trial. Livingstone and Tordecilla Reyes pleaded guilty to the same offence on June 5 and July 22 respectively. A fourth man was acquitted by the jury.
At the same court, on December 23, Moran was sentenced to 15 years in prison and Livingstone to seven years and nine months in prison. Reyes is scheduled to be sentenced at a later date.