Gang who dropped £40m of cocaine into the sea with GPS trackers jailed for more than 100 years

Twelve members of a crime group that tried to smuggle £40m of cocaine into Britain by dropping it into the sea have been jailed for a combined total of more than 100 years. The National Crime Agency, whose officers were waiting on the beach when the drugs came ashore, said the gang's plot would have "brought misery and violence to many communities around the country".

The 12 were sentenced on Thursday and Friday at Portsmouth Crown Court.

Bales fitted with GPS trackers

The gang arranged for 500kg of cocaine, with a purity of about 85%, to be dropped into the English Channel about 40 nautical miles south of the Needles, off the Isle of Wight, by an accomplice crew aboard a container ship. The drugs were wrapped in waterproof bundles, each fitted with a GPS tracker, so that a boat could find them and bring them to shore.

The first attempt went wrong. In the early hours of 17 August 2024, one of the gang sailed out from Portsmouth to collect the drugs, taking directions by WhatsApp from an accomplice on land. But the container ship sailed straight past him, and the trackers were not sending a signal. "Big ship has passed you, chase it and flash lights," the man ashore wrote, increasingly desperate. The boat returned to shore empty-handed.

Two days later, on 19 August, the gang recovered the drugs and brought 16 bales of cocaine onto Medmerry Beach near Selsey in West Sussex, where NCA officers were waiting.

Arrested in Romania

The group's bosses, Daniel Jamieson, 41, from Essex, and Sam Brown, 33, who lived in Liverpool, were jailed for 22 years and for 16 years and six months. Jamieson, convicted at trial, had posed as a legitimate businessman and used a false name to buy a maritime business so he could get hold of the boat used to recover the drugs. Brown admitted the conspiracy and played a key role in recruiting others.

Carl Powner, 62, from Stoke-on-Trent, was jailed for 13 years. The NCA said he was a key member of the group, recruiting drivers, buying equipment and sailing out to collect the drugs. He escaped arrest and fled abroad, but was traced, arrested in Romania in May and extradited to face justice.

Others jailed included the gang leader's right-hand man, who was sentenced to 14 years, and an oil rig worker who made the failed first attempt, also jailed for 14 years. Five members of the landing party on the beach were convicted of assisting an organised crime group, four of them jailed for 20 months and one given a suspended sentence.

"Massive profits" lost

Jules Harriman, the NCA's senior investigating officer, said: "The main players from this conspiracy are facing very long periods behind bars. Had their smuggling attempt worked, these toxic drugs would have brought misery and violence to many communities around the country."

"The crime group responsible for supplying these offenders has lost their drugs and massive profits that can no longer be ploughed back into further offending. Working with partners such as Border Force, the NCA will continue to do all it can to protect the public from the threat of Class A drugs."

Why it matters in Birmingham

Cocaine brought into the UK in bulk is sold on to crime groups around the country, and fuels drug dealing, violence and exploitation in cities including Birmingham. Stopping half a tonne at the coast means it never reaches the streets. The NCA thanked several police forces for their help, including West Mercia Police, Merseyside Police, Hampshire Police and Sussex Police.