Making a Living - Drug Smuggling / Yacht Delivery

[David_Old_Jersey]

A bit of a cautionary tale........

Local customs officers seized a 50ft yacht loaded with 216 kilos of cocaine worth £8m. They swooped on the vessel GIN in the early hours of Tuesday as it sailed into Gibraltar from the Caribbean. A total of 183 slabs of cocaine were found stashed in sealed compartments at the stern of the yacht. Officers had to physically break into hidden cavities to find the drugs

https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/06/373057.html


Of particular interest was:-

yacht GIN was stopped as a result of an ongoing “risk-profiling” operation, in which a number of issues are taken into account to target possible offenders. Officers look at factors such as movement patterns and ownership, as well secret intelligence.

I raised this particulerly because one of those arrested (and still in jail) hails from Jersey, a Middleaged former banker......not that I know him - from what I have read he just signed up for the delivery trip via Crewseekers just so he could gain some blue water sea time........but I guess the cautionary tale would also be applicable to anyone doing yacht delivery as a way of supplementing their cruising fund..........

[Capt Darren]

wow.
I guess that would be one question to ask before stepping aboard a vessel.

"excuse me captain, but, are you smuggling coke?"


I guess you can never truly know about these things. still, kind of scary

[Pura Vida]

The story is reminicent of the Zachary Swan scams in Robert Sabbage's quasi-factual book 'Snowblind'. Seal the "deliverables" in the boat (he used a car) somewhere and then "hire your mules" via Crewseeker (he used the news paper).

There are also records of vehicles purchased from sheriff's auctions in Texas that contained hidden drugs that the search failed to fiind.

[David_Old_Jersey]

I had forgotten about this...........

He is still in Jail in a medieveal fortress in Gibraltar, tried for Bail a couple of times with no joy yet - I think up for trial next Easter time.

His freinds held a bit of a rally for him here in Jersey, in the town square quite a few in attendance and on the local TV, I was walking through anyway so I signed a petition and ignored a collection ......actually turns out I did work at the same place as him many years ago - don''t actually remember him even if the name is vaguely recognisable.

[unbusted67]

Pros and Cons of smuggling coke:
Pros:
-no risk of the helmsman getting fatigued.
-probably don't really need to provision any food
-extremely clean boat
Cons:
-Captain won't stop talking about himself.
-Ninety nine kilos of coke in the hold, ninety nine kilos of coke! Take one down pass it around ninety eight kilos of coke! Etc Etc.

[Boracay]

If the search came as a result of profiling one could speculate as to what the trigger was.

My guesses - yacht had been to Columbia, the sealed spaces were noticable to an an experienced official, a drug detecting dog showed interest or someone asociated with the boat was a person of interest.

I have heard stories of Australian Customs pulling apart hand crafted joinery in their enthusiasm. No compensation either.

[mudnut]

Now ya would think with all that coke and what it's worth.A smart smuggler would haul the boat out at the origin of the drugs and partly load up the keel.Then put back on boat,glass it up and set sail.The bigger the keel the bigger the profit.I have never heard of a drug sniffing K-9 snorkling on hulls.Go figure.Mudnut.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by mudnut

Now ya would think with all that coke and what it's worth.A smart smuggler would haul the boat out at the origin of the drugs and partly load up the keel.Then put back on boat,glass it up and set sail.The bigger the keel the bigger the profit.I have never heard of a drug sniffing K-9 snorkling on hulls.Go figure.Mudnut.

Apparently this is for the next trip

Anyway, he has just been released, after 2 months in Gibraltar Prison......no charges.