Pair jailed for over 40 years for drug smuggling (From Daily Echo)
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Pair jailed for over 40 years for drug smuggling
12:24pm Wednesday 30th January 2013 in News
By Jenny Makin, Crime Reporter
Thomas Dylik
TWO men have been jailed for a total of more than 40 years after £90m of cocaine was found hidden on a yacht off the Isle of Wight.
Piotr Pachnia, 33, was handed a 24-year sentence this morning at Winchester Crown Court after being convicted by a jury at Portsmouth Crown Court of being in possession of 996lb (452kg) of the class A drug following a two-day trial.
Thomas Dylik, 48, captain of the yacht Baila where UK Border Agency officers found the haul in June last year, admitted the same charge and was sent to prison for 18 and a half years.
The seizure was one of the largest ever in the UK, the agency said.
Pachnia, of no fixed address, and Dylik, who has an address in Poland but had been living on the yacht, were arrested after UK Border Agency officials found the cocaine during a search of the vessel at Portsmouth Naval Dockyard.
Three officers had earlier boarded the yacht when it entered UK territorial waters having sailed from the Caribbean.
They had tracked the vessel for about 24 hours from waters off the coast of Plymouth until it was 11 miles south of St Catherine's Point on the Isle of Wight.
The officials then escorted Baila to Portsmouth amid suspicions illegal drugs could be hidden on board. Three swab tests had revealed traces of illegal substances.
On searching the yacht officers discovered more than 470 packages and cylinders of cocaine.
The cocaine, which had an average 90 per cent purity, was found behind false walls, hidden in compartments and a holdall.
The yacht has since been forfeited and an order has been made for the cocaine to be destroyed.
Judge Susan Evans commended UK Border Agency officers, who she said conducted the Operation Pareto investigation with "great thoroughness."
She is to write a certificate of commendation to those involved in "preventing this enormous amount of cocaine from ending up on the streets of this country or any other European country".
A confiscation hearing will be held at a later date to recoup any money the men made through criminal activity.
Judge Susan Evans said: "It was a sophisticated and well planned operation to import a massive amount of cocaine, nearly half a ton, with a street value of £90m."
She added it was impossible to say which country the cocaine was destined for, the UK or another European country.
Judge Evans told them: "Had you landed that cargo the misery inflicted upon drug addicts and the contribution towards drug related crime would have been enormous. At this volume it inflicts damage on the country as a whole both in terms of crime and the resources needed to fund the law enforcement officers to fight it."
Judge Evans also praised the tenacity of the UKBA officers involved in detecting giant haul.
Comments(16)
minnie64
says...
12:35pm Wed 30 Jan 13
CharlieOxbridge
says...
12:45pm Wed 30 Jan 13
peenut81
says...
12:53pm Wed 30 Jan 13
The campaign to seize, stop and prohibit drug use is pointless, wasteful and self defeating.
kingnotail
says...
3:45pm Wed 30 Jan 13
CharlieOxbridge wrote:Says the voice of the Daily Mail. Stop fighting the pointless war on drugs.
Can we not send them to Bali and let them deal with it?
CharlieOxbridge
says...
4:07pm Wed 30 Jan 13
kingnotail wrote:Your right, it's about time we just started stocking them up in Sainsbury's, next to the cheese.
CharlieOxbridge wrote: Can we not send them to Bali and let them deal with it?Says the voice of the Daily Mail. Stop fighting the pointless war on drugs.
whufan
says...
4:46pm Wed 30 Jan 13
CharlieOxbridge wrote:Can't they put it in the alcohol isle so I don't have to walk around the whole shop. Or maybe have a stall in the car park!
kingnotail wrote:Your right, it's about time we just started stocking them up in Sainsbury's, next to the cheese.
CharlieOxbridge wrote: Can we not send them to Bali and let them deal with it?Says the voice of the Daily Mail. Stop fighting the pointless war on drugs.
StMarysSaint
says...
5:23pm Wed 30 Jan 13
If people want to take drugs, its their business, let them do so in a safe environment, and if others don't want to, then that's their choice also.
You do goody Christians get off others backs and mind your own business. Stop this nonsense, legalis\control and take away the dealers incentive.
kingnotail
says...
5:42pm Wed 30 Jan 13
CharlieOxbridge wrote:Yep definitely the voice of the Daily Mail. No one is saying you should be able to walk into a shop and buy heroin, but the money spent fighting a losing battle could be better spent elsewhere.
kingnotail wrote:Your right, it's about time we just started stocking them up in Sainsbury's, next to the cheese.
CharlieOxbridge wrote: Can we not send them to Bali and let them deal with it?Says the voice of the Daily Mail. Stop fighting the pointless war on drugs.
But really,if you can go into a shop and buy alcohol, why shouldn't you be able to do the same with cannabis, or ecstasy? Far less physical or social harm can be attributed to either of these than it can to alcohol.
IronLady2010
says...
6:00pm Wed 30 Jan 13
I'm unsure what the answer is as I would agree with others, we do seem to be fighting a losing battle and chucking so much money into fighting this battle.
bigal007
says...
10:05am Thu 31 Jan 13
CharlieOxbridge wrote:lol!!
Can we not send them to Bali and let them deal with it?
bigal007
says...
10:05am Thu 31 Jan 13
CharlieOxbridge wrote:lol!!
Can we not send them to Bali and let them deal with it?
Subject48
says...
6:25pm Thu 31 Jan 13
Its not that easy to come up with new drugs that have effects better then ones available already.(those with a brain would have controlled)
If they do, assimilate them.
There was a certain drug called methadrone. This was technically a plant fertilizer but when snorted got you high.
Because it was legal a lot of people made a lot of money legally, by selling it in kilograms after customer signing a waiver they will not be using for recreational use before government got wise and managed to pass legislation to ban it. It was being taxed, easily available, high quality and no one was any wiser. I believe cocaine sales at the time when this was in circulation dropped because it apparently had similar effects, you knew it was clean, and was easily available through legal means without having to contact a criminal to get it.
Think of this story as a case study and some of your own reading.
kingnotail
says...
11:26am Fri 1 Feb 13
Subject48 wrote:1. It's called mephedrone (though there are others with similar names such as methEdrone and methylone)
@ Iron lady
Its not that easy to come up with new drugs that have effects better then ones available already.(those with a brain would have controlled)
If they do, assimilate them.
There was a certain drug called methadrone. This was technically a plant fertilizer but when snorted got you high.
Because it was legal a lot of people made a lot of money legally, by selling it in kilograms after customer signing a waiver they will not be using for recreational use before government got wise and managed to pass legislation to ban it. It was being taxed, easily available, high quality and no one was any wiser. I believe cocaine sales at the time when this was in circulation dropped because it apparently had similar effects, you knew it was clean, and was easily available through legal means without having to contact a criminal to get it.
Think of this story as a case study and some of your own reading.
2. The plant fertilizer description was a front, it never had any use as such
3. New drugs like this one have no history of use in people, so the adverse effects are unknown thus making them potentially much more dangerous than cocaine, ecstasy etc.
What you should take from this is the fact that legal or illegal, people will never stop wanting to do drugs. It's been like that since the dawn of time.
Pikey-Biker
says...
9:07pm Sun 24 Feb 13
IronLady2010 wrote:oh just give up then!
It's easy to say legalise drugs etc, but when there is so much money to be made the dealers will simply invent some new drug, so we could end up still fighting a losing battle. I'm unsure what the answer is as I would agree with others, we do seem to be fighting a losing battle and chucking so much money into fighting this battle.
Pikey-Biker
says...
9:09pm Sun 24 Feb 13
kingnotail wrote:it isn't pointless
CharlieOxbridge wrote: Can we not send them to Bali and let them deal with it?Says the voice of the Daily Mail. Stop fighting the pointless war on drugs.
Outside of the Box says...
12:33pm Wed 30 Jan 13
ce,,,CPS and the Judge should pat themselves on the back