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Two sailors have been sentenced to over 40 years imprisonment between them for their role in the smuggling of more than three tonnes of cocaine aboard an ocean-going tug, the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service has reported. The operation apparently resulted in the largest ever seizure of Class A drugs in the UK.
Mumin Sahin and Emin Ozmen, who are both from Turkey, were detained after their ship was boarded by officers from the National Crime Agency and Border Force 100 miles off the coast of Aberdeenshire last year. The ship, which was registered in Tanzania, was on its way from Guyana to a planned rendezvous to the west of Denmark.
Around 3.2 tonnes of cocaine, with a street value of over half a billion pounds, were found secreted within a large compartment deep inside the boat, adjacent to the ballast tanks. The entry to the space was found under a wardrobe in one of the crew’s quarters, with the opening cemented over.
The Crown Prosecution Service also played a key role in the operation by obtaining permission from the Tanzanian Government to board the boat. Although there was strong intelligence that the boat was carrying a large volume of drugs, it could not be boarded in international waters by the UK authorities without this permission.
"Under international maritime law the UK cannot board a vessel in international waters which is under the flag of a foreign state unless that state gives specific legal permission to do so,” commented Sue Patten, Head of CPS International Justice and Organised Crime Division. “Without the swift actions of our Criminal Justice Adviser there was a high risk that the vessel may have escaped and we would never have been able to bring these men to justice.”
The investigation into the seizure, overseen by Crown Office officials, resulted in a three-month trial at Glasgow High Court.
Crown Agent, David Harvie, explained the truly international nature of the operation.
“The Hamal was identified after an intelligence tip-off from French authorities, and swift co-operation from the Attorney General in Tanzania where the ship was registered allowed it to be boarded,” he said.
“Our investigation then stretched from Guyana, who provided access to crucial shipping records, to Spain, who gave us crucial information on the ship’s stop-offs in the Canary Islands,” he added. “We also worked with colleagues in Denmark, Norway and the United States to piece specific elements of the evidence together.”
“Scotland is well-placed in this increasingly connected world to identify, apprehend and prosecute all those who seek to profit from crime in our jurisdiction, and we will continue to work with our agencies at home and abroad to build on this strength,” he concluded.
Mumin Sahin was sentenced to 22 years' imprisonment and Emin Ozmen to 20 years.
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