Cocaine packages with a combined street value of nearly £5m found floating in waters off the Welsh coast are linked to major international drug gangs, customs officials said last night.It was confirmed yesterday that a single package found floating near St Davids three weeks ago by a couple celebrating their 42nd wedding anniversary contained 30kg of the Class A drug.Its origins are potentially so serious that the investigation has now been taken over by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca).
It is the latest in a series of sinister packages mysteriously found floating off Wales’ coastline or washed up on its beaches, which are thought to be on their way to organised crime gangs in London and Liverpool from Colombia.In February, two similarly sized shipments were washed up, one on a beach in Meirionedd and another at Tywyn, in southern Gwynedd.In the same month, more than £6m of cocaine was discovered in separate finds on Cornwall’s beaches. Some packs had the word “Colombia” written across them in faded letters.And the largest drugs trial in Irish history began last week after around 1.5 tonnes of cocaine – worth more than £80m – was recovered from the sea off the coast of Cork last July.Police believe the drugs were destined for Britain and members of an English trafficking ring are now on trial. However, the Irish discovery is not linked to those made in Wales and Cornwall.Drop-off tactics can now involve packages being dropped from an aeroplane into the ocean to be picked up by a waiting boat or even secretly stuck to the sides of large cargo ships by divers, with the ships’ captains unaware of their cargo. “There have been two consignments in Cornwall and two in Mid Wales recently [excluding the most recent Pembrokeshire discovery] and there are connections between them, although I wouldn’t say they are all related or not related,” said Pete Turner, senior detection officer for HM Revenue and Customs in North Wales.“Soca are now involved in it – they investigate organised crime by serious gangs,” he added.“There is no question it is connected to large drug smuggling gangs. One of those assignments on its own is a massive amount of cocaine – four or five of them have got to be related to some kind of significant gang with the power to pick this up from the Colombians or elsewhere.”Cocaine originates mainly in Colombia, and arrives in Britain via the Caribbean, West Africa and mainland Europe.“Often it’s about getting it to Europe then across to the UK, but what we’ve got with these packages is a bit different,” said Mr Turner.
“We don’t know why they’ve been washed up. They could have been flown very close to the UK and dropped into the sea to be picked up. One method is to hold packages overboard by rope so if a ship is confronted it can cut the rope and lose the package.
“Drugs have always been concealed on large cargo ships but it has become common that they are placed on the outside by divers with the crew not knowing what’s going on. We don’t know if that’s what has happened here.”
Mr Turner said it was possible the attempted landing of the drugs shipment had failed. Had they stayed with their intended vessel they would have been brought ashore in one of the UK’s ports, landed by mules and distributed nationwide. There may yet be more packages to be found.
“It is common for people to attempt to smuggle drugs into the UK, it is not common for them to be brought into Wales. You’re looking at gangs from places like Liverpool or London – the bigger picture,” said Mr Turner.
“But any ships that come from foreign climes have the potential to be smuggling.”
After levels of use that have risen consistently over 10 years, the UK now tops Europe’s table for cocaine consumption. Official government figures showed this week that the number of cocaine users admitted to hospital has more than quadrupled in eight years.
And figures obtained by the Western Mail in November showed all four Welsh police forces had arrested children under 17 for Class A drug use in recent years.
This month’s discovery in Cardigan Bay, north of Ramsey Island, was made by former Milford Haven pilot Brian Ball and his wife, Anne, who were on a marine wildlife expedition to celebrate their anniversary when they spotted the floating package two-and-a-half miles from the coast.
“I thought it was a fishing float at first, but it was really heavy and wrapped in layer upon layer of hessian and polythene, said Mr Ball at the time.
“The outer layer was covered in netting.
“It became obvious that whatever it was, it was meant to be picked up.”
Skipper and co-owner of the boat, Beth Swan, said earlier this month: “We spotted a gull standing on something in the sea, and assumed it was a bit of rubbish or possibly a dead seal which needed to be dealt with.
“On closer inspection, we saw the packaging and hauled it on board. It was incredibly heavy and that’s when we became suspicious.”
A Dyfed-Powys Police spokeswoman said yesterday: “The package is still undergoing tests. However it contained 30kg of cocaine
