Scots tried to import cocaine worth £40m into UK on speedboat

Two men from Scotland who tried to import cocaine with a street value of £42 million into the UK on a small boat have been jailed.

Daniel Livingstone was arrested on May 4 with 524 kilos of cocaine in his van outside a hotel in Lelley, East Yorkshire.

The 25-year-old from Campbeltown, Argyll and Bute, had stayed the night in the hotel with two other men who conspired with him to smuggle the class A drug – Mark Moran, 23, and 40-year-old Colombian national Didier Tordecilla Reyes.

Moran and Reyes had sailed an RHIB (rigid-hulled inflatable boat) from the Hessle slipway before returning hours later with the drugs haul and unloading it at a beach near Easington caravan park.

Boat used by Mark Moran, 23, and 40-year-old Colombian national Didier Tordecilla Reyes NCA

Livingstone was waiting for them and had been seen shining a torch out to sea and talking on his mobile phone before they approached.

National Crime Agency officers saw Moran and Reyes ditch the RHIB on the beach after they unloaded several bags into the van.

Earlier in the day, Moran, of Ardrishaig, Argyll and Bute, was in Norwich, where he drove a hire van and the RHIB up to Grimsby.

Drugs smuggled by Daniel Livingstone and Mark Moran NCA

There, he met Livingstone and Reyes. The offenders drove to Hessle, and Livingstone stopped to fill two large jerry cans with fuel.

The NCA investigation was supported by Humberside Police, who provided maritime and roads policing assistance, and Border Force who provided maritime advice.

NCA senior investigating officer Alan French said: “There’s no doubt these drugs would have been sold into communities around the UK, but working with our partners including Humberside Police and Border Force, we have disrupted this crime group’s offending and made a huge dent in any profits they were due to make.

“We are determined to do all we can to tackle the class A drugs threat activity and protect the public from the horrific damage it causes our society.”

A jury at Hull Crown Court convicted Moran of conspiracy to import cocaine on October 28 following an eight-day trial.

Livingstone and Tordecilla Reyes pleaded guilty to the same offence on June 5 and July 22, respectively. The jury cleared a fourth man, also from Argyll and Bute.

At the same court on Monday, Moran was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment and Livingstone to seven years and nine months imprisonment. Reyes is due to be sentenced at a later date.