Two Men Trying To Jet Ski From Netherlands To UK With A Bag Full Of Coke Get Sentenced

Two British men who wanted to carry out a daredevil act of jet skiing from the Netherlands to the UK with $278,000 (Rs 2 crore) worth of cocaine stuffed in a backpack were prisoned on Tuesday.

Steven Brogan and Anthony Reilly, appeared in England's Ipswich Crown Court for their sentencing after their cocaine stunt on the North Sea didn't go to plan last September and they both pleaded guilty to importing the drugs.

PA

The smugglers were arrested about 27 nautical miles off the Suffolk coast, after approaching a survey boat and ¡°reporting difficulties due to a fuel shortage," it has been reported.

¡°At one point they were pitched into the sea,¡± prosecutor Hugo Vass told the court, adding that one of the men was showing signs of hypothermia and the other of exhaustion, the BBC reported.

Also read: Man Finds 35 Kilograms Of Cocaine Washed Up On A Beach In Florida

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The report said that survey vessel put out a mayday call and a Coast Guard helicopter rushed to the scene and pulled the pair to safety. But the chopper¡¯s crew alerted authorities that the men were acting suspicious on board, Vass said.

In order to trick the authorities, Brogan claimed that he had been ¡°fishing¡­ but ran into difficulty¡± ¡ª before investigators discovered 4.4 pounds of coke stuffed in a backpack the pair had on them.

Also read: Two Men Obtain Travel Pass On The Pretext Of Selling Masks, Use It To Buy Cocaine, Arrested

PA

Officers also found a van owned by Brogan with maps of the North Sea, a pick-up point in the Netherlands, tide timetables, a cellphone and diving equipment, according to the BBC.

On Tuesday, a judge in Ipswich Crown Court ordered Brogan jailed for seven years and six months and Reilly, who admitted to the charges before his co-defendant, jailed for seven years.

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