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Two men who ran out of fuel while trying to bring £ 200,000 worth of cocaine to the UK on a jet ski have been jailed.
Steve Brogan, 36, and Anthony Reilly, 34, had to be rescued from the North Sea before their arrest on September 30 last year.
The men, both from Skelmersdale in Lancashire, took their jet ski from the Lowestoft area in Suffolk to a collection point in the Netherlands.
The couple were carrying the cocaine in a backpack when they approached an inspection boat and “asked the crew for some fuel” on their return trip, Ipswich Crown Court heard.
Hugh Vass, the accuser, said their request for fuel was “rejected” and that at one point they were “thrown into the sea.”
Mr Vass added that one man showed signs of hypothermia while the other showed signs of exhaustion.
He added that the men were airlifted to the hospital in Gorleston, Norfolk, after the Lowestoft RNLI lifeboat and Hull’s HM Coastguard helicopter helped rescue them.
Vass said members of the helicopter’s crew alerted police after suspecting the men’s behavior and were arrested upon arrival.
The prosecution attorney said Brogan told officers that he had been “fishing on a jet ski, but had a hard time when they ran out of fuel.”
Vass said officers found the men had 2kg of cocaine in a backpack, valued at up to £ 200,000.
Brogan’s van and trailer were located and found to contain maps of the North Sea, a collection point in the Netherlands, tide times, a mobile phone and diving equipment, the court heard.
The jet ski was registered to Brogan.
Automatic License Plate Recognition (ANPR) identified Brogan’s vehicle driven in the Lowestoft area on July 6.
Both men admitted to importing class A drugs.
Registrar Richard Christie QC jailed Brogan for seven years and six months and Reilly, who admitted the crime to his co-defendant, to seven years in prison.
Brogan and Reilly had been riding this jet ski
The judge said it was a “sophisticated undertaking”, adding: “Potentially, there was a visit to the Suffolk area from the North West of England on an earlier occasion to at least acknowledge the situation.
“At the time of this infraction, they both took a jet ski across the sea to Holland.
“A two-kilo package of cocaine was collected and in what could be described as a daring undertaking, they sought to cross the sea again with a jet ski.”
He continued: “It was just because of the weather that things turned out very bad for you and you were very lucky to be picked up and taken to the hospital at the government’s expense.”
Mark Stevens, for Brogan, described the defendant as a “trusted lieutenant” who was “clearly confident to go pick up drugs and motivated by financial advantage.”
He said Brogan is a successful trained boxer and has worked to help children within the community.
Stevens said: “He lost a fight, he got no money, he was asked to do this and he foolishly agreed.”
Reilly’s Stephen Mather said his client was a qualified plumber, but his job dried up at the beginning of the shutdown last year.
He added that Reilly had been in financial difficulties at the time of the jet ski incident.
Reilly told the judge that his decision to get involved was a “life-changing mistake.”
A Criminal Assets Act hearing will be held at a later date.
