Four Dutchmen tried to smuggle a £16m haul of cocaine into Hunterston in a 'James Bond' style underwater vehicle plot, a court heard this week.
Henri Van Doesburg, his son Roderick and grandson Darryl-Jay and Arnold Van Milt all appeared in the dock at Leeds Crown Court yesterday (Tuesday) charged with conspiring to import 108kg of the Class A drug through the North Ayrshire port.
A jury heard that Roderick, 23, Darryl, 22 and Van Milt, 49, who were trapped at Seamill Hydro after they were spotted by a customs officer who was staying there, obtained high-tech underwater diving equipment with the intention to access the drugs stashed in the hull of Columbian vessel the Cape Maria.
But the alleged plot was foiled when officers found the stash with a street value of £16.2million in the boat’s rudder house, which was accessible by divers from the outside, the court heard.
See this week's Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald for the full story.
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