Two jailed for role in £42m cocaine smuggling plot

Two men involved in one of the UK's biggest ever drugs seizures have been jailed.

More than half a tonne (524kg) of cocaine with a street value of more than £42m was landed by boat in Easington on the East Yorkshire coast in May.

The gang was intercepted in a pub car park by National Crime Agency (NCA) officers who discovered the narcotics in the back of a hire van.

Mark Moran, 22, was sent to prison for 15 years and Daniel Livingstone, 25, was jailed for seven years and nine months at Hull Crown Court.

The court heard the defendants had bought an inflatable boat which they used to pick up a consignment of drugs in the North Sea.

They landed the cocaine at a caravan site before driving to stay overnight at a local pub, where they were arrested.

Prosecutor Angus MacDonald told the court the drugs were of a very high purity of "86-89%" and was "one of the largest seizures".

In mitigation, Moran's barrister Derek Duffy said his client played a minor role and the whole operation was "cartel organised from South America".

"His job was to get the drugs from the boat to the shore," Mr Duffy said.

Livingstone's lawyer Michael Forest said he drove the van to pick up the drugs and had been offered £40,000 for his role.

"He was in debt and it offered a way out," Mr Forest said.

"The lure of easy money led him down this dark path."

Passing sentence, Judge Mark Bury said he was "bewildered" how the men from rural Scotland with no previous criminal convictions had become part of the gang.

"It's puzzling to try and work out how you became involved," the judge said.

At a trial in October, Moran of Glenfyne Terrace, Ardrishaig was found guilty of conspiracy to import cocaine.

Livingstone, of Calton Avenue, Campbeltown, pleaded guilty to the same charge.

Colombian national Didier Tordecilla Reyes, 39, who pleaded guilty to importing cocaine, will be sentenced at a later date.

Another defendant Anthony McAllister, 33, of Aldersyde in Taynuilt, Scotland, was found not guilty on all the charges he faced.

Alan French from the NCA said: "There's no doubt these drugs would have been sold into communities around the UK.

"But working with our partners including Humberside Police and Border Force, we have disrupted this crime group's offending and made a huge dent in any profits they were due to make."

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