Man who tried to smuggle £160m of cocaine into the UK on a luxury yacht ... trends now
A Briton caught on board a luxury yacht attempting to smuggle £160 million worth of cocaine has been ordered by court to pay back £1.
Andrew Cole, from Stockton in Teesside, tried to sneak two tonnes of cocaine onto a yacht, called Kahu, that had been headed to the UK.
The Jamaican-flagged yacht was stopped 80 miles off the coast of Plymouth, just north of Guernsey, on September 9 last year, when the illegal drugs were found.
The crew had left the Barbados in the Caribbean 18 days before being intercepted by specialist officers from Border Force and National Crime Agency.
Andrew Cole (pictured) , from Stockton in Teesside, attempted to smuggle £160 million worth of cocaine aboard a luxury yacht travelling from Barbados to the UK. He was jailed for 18 years in May but has since been ordered to pay back £1 within three months by Plymouth Crown Court
Two tonnes of cocaine were found aboard the 120 foot Kahu that had been sailing from the Caribbean
While the 33-year-old was sentenced to 18 years behind bars at Exeter Crown Court in May, he has since been ordered to pay back £1 within three months by Plymouth Crown Court.
A serious crime prevention order (SCPO) was also put in place for a five year period from his release from custody.
The SCPO aims to protect the public by 'preventing, restricting or disrupting a person's involvement in serious crime'.
Border Force and the National Crime Agency stopped the yacht around 80 miles off the coast of Plymouth where they seized 1,500 kilograms of cocaine (pictured)
The operation, which was led by the NCA and supported by Border Force and the Australian Federal Police, saw the Border Force Maritime Command's 42-metre cutter 'Searcher' and 19-metre coastal patrol vessel 'Alert' covertly identify and monitor the movements of the yacht.
Cole admitted smuggling the Class A drugs in January, and five other men, the captain, and four crew members, were acquitted by a jury.
The drug trafficking saga that Cole was involved in planning involved him travelling to Costa Rica and Panama in May 2021.
In July he then flew to Miami, and the following day to Barbados, where the yacht arrived on July 29.
Cole had a Samsung mobile phone that he and the crew
