Dutch Cocaine Peddler Jailed For 16 years

A 61 year old Dutchman has been jailed on Wednesday after he pleaded guilty of attempting to smuggle cocaine with a street value of £133 million ($171 million) into the country on his yacht.

The Dutchman was arrested after a two-day search of the 60-foot (18-metre) vessel found 93 packages of cocaine. The packages contained 1,661 individual blocks of the drug.

Border Force cutter HMC Vigilant intercepted Maarten Peter Pieterse’s Dutch-registered SY Marcia around 120 nautical miles (220 kilometres) off the coast of Cornwall, southwest England, on July 18, 2018.

He pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on Wednesday.

The National Crime Agency, which targets international and organised crime, said that more than two tonnes of high-grade was recovered in the operation.

“This huge haul of cocaine is one of the largest seizures of class A ever in the UK, with a potential street value of more than £130 million,” said NCA operations manager.

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The agency said that the yacht had been “specially adapted for the sole purpose of drug smuggling”.

“I have no doubt these drugs were destined for Europe and the UK, to be sold by drugs gangs who are also involved in intimidation, exploitation and violence,” added Surgeon.

Crew member Emile Adriaan Jeroen Schoemaker, 45, was arrested alongside Pieterse but found not guilty in June.

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