Three Jailed for £26m Drug Seizure on Speedboat

Three individuals who attempted to smuggle cocaine valued at £26.5 million into the UK following its drop from a cargo vessel near the Somer...

Three individuals who attempted to smuggle cocaine valued at £26.5 million into the UK following its drop from a cargo vessel near the Somerset coast have received prison sentences.

Craig Nuttall, 51, and his brother Raymond Nuttall, 47, both hailing from Preston, along with Greek citizen Anestis Tsepa, 24, from Thessaloniki, were taken into custody at the slipway of Watchet Marina in late July.

The Nuttalls and Tsepa admitted to bringing cocaine into the country at Taunton Crown Court during proceedings in August and September, and were sentenced at the same court on Thursday.

Tsepa received a 16-year prison sentence, whereas Raymond and Craig were each given 11 years and three months, and 11 years and two months respectively.

The defendants, along with 38-year-old Albanian citizen Melios Delvina, had 14 packages of cocaine weighing 322kg hidden on the floor and between the seats of their speedboat.

Delvina has also acknowledged the same accusation and is scheduled to be sentenced on December 11.

The National Crime Agency (NCA), which was in charge of the investigation, stated that the Nattalls arrived at Watchet Marina on 23 July with their boat, called Guzzla, and informed the marina manager that they were in the area for a few days to go fishing.

On the evening of 30 July, Tsepa and Delvina joined them, and by 20:46 BST, Craig Nuttall, Tsepa, and Delvina were heading out to sea, according to the NCA.

They arrived back at the marina at 01:00 BST and were in the middle of attempting to attach the boat to a trailer that Raymond had brought down the slipway when they were taken into custody by NCA officers.

The cocaine was determined to be 89% pure and had a street value of £26.5 million, according to the NCA, which also reported that a handgun was discovered on the vessel.

Gavin Webb, head of investigations for the NCA in the region, stated: "[The defendants] were driven by greed – if their plan had succeeded, they would have made millions of pounds."

The existence of a gun on the boat indicates the extent they were prepared to take their criminal activities.

"Someone will organize the [drugs] to be thrown overboard—enclosed in life jackets and equipped with a tracking device—and these coordinates and information will then be provided to an organized crime group located here, which will go out and retrieve it," Mr. Webb stated.

There may be some involvement from individuals aboard the larger ships, but we are not implying that the entire ship is engaged in criminal activity.

"We examine it with great seriousness and investigate further upstream, looking into the organizations themselves to try and locate those individuals," he stated.

The inquiry was carried out in collaboration with Border Force, the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit, Avon and Somerset Police, and Devon and Cornwall Police.

Mr. Webb stated that although the confiscation of the drugs represented a significant achievement for the involved agencies, criminal organizations are developing more creative methods to smuggle narcotics into the country.

"It is very unfortunate that access to Class A drugs is relatively simple in certain areas, communities, and for some individuals, and this presents a significant challenge for us," he stated.

Mr. Webb mentioned that from September 2024 to June 2005, the NCA and its collaborators confiscated approximately a quarter of a billion pounds' worth of cocaine, with production rising in areas such as South America.

"We must be highly adaptable in dealing with that danger," he stated.

Although this represents a significant effort to import, we have prosecuted individuals today, yet it remains dwarfed by the vast quantity that could still arrive.

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• National Crime Agency