Cocaine Worth £20m Seized Off IOW

Two men have appeared in court on drug-smuggling charges, following the seizure of millions of pounds worth of cocaine by Border Force officers.

The haul of cocaine was seized by officers patrolling off the coast of the Isle of Wight at around 2pm on Sunday 10 June, working closely with the French Customs Investigations Service, the DNRED.

The yacht, which had come from the Caribbean, was escorted into Portsmouth port where cutter crew members searched it and found 400 kilos of cocaine.

The drugs could have had a potential value of approximately £20 million when cut and sold on the street.

Doug McLellan of Border Force said:

“Alongside a dedicated presence at our ports and airports, we also have a fleet of cutters that play a vital role in securing the border patrolling the UK coastline to keep class A drugs and other banned substances out of the UK.”

Border Force’s five fast patrol vessels, known as Cutters, patrol the UK’s 11,000 miles of coastline every day of the year to detect prohibited and restricted goods and prevent tax fraud by searching all types of vessels.

Tomasz Konrad Dylik, 47, of Warsaw, Poland, and Pacnia Piotrryszard, 33, of Gdansk, Poland, appeared at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court on Monday 11th June 2012. They were both remanded in custody to appear at the same court on Wednesday 20 June.

Anyone with information about smuggling can call the Customs Hotline on 0800 59 5000 or report it online at
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/contact/report-crime/