South American drug gangs dropping tens of millions of pounds worth of cocaine into sea around Wales

South American drug gangs are dropping tens of millions of pounds worth cocaine into the sea around the British coast for local contacts to bring ashore, law enforcement agencies have warned. The tactic - known as an ASDO, or at-sea-drop-off - has been described by the Border Force as a "significant and persistent threat" to the UK.

A light has been shone on the technique this month with the conviction of two men from Swansea who tried to smuggle £100 million into Britain in a fishing boat. Under the guise of going shark fishing the men collected dozens of packages of drugs which had been dumped into the water around the Isles of Scilly by conspirators in Ecuador. However Jon Williams and Patrick Godfrey were intercepted by Border Force officers off Newquay in Cornwall and their fishing boat - the Lily Lola - and its illicit cargo seized.

An ASDO operation typically involves a large so-called "mother" ship carrying a consignment of cocaine from South America to a pre-arranged location near British territorial waters. The waterproof packages - with satellite trackers attached - are then thrown overboard for smaller "daughter" boats from UK ports to collect and take ashore. The "daughter" boats can be guided to the exact location of the contraband using satellite phones and GPS tracking data. In the case of Williams and Godfrey the "mother" ship dropped off a total of 49 packages to be collected though text messages and other communications recovered during the subsequent investigation suggested that 19 of the packages were initially missed.

Speaking to the BBC Charlie Eastaugh, maritime director at Border Force, said the problem of ASDO was "significant" but "we are able to identify, track, locate, seize and ultimately prosecute and imprison those that are involved". You can sign up to our regular Crime and Punishment newsletter here.

Jon Williams, aged 46, of Windmill Terrace, St Thomas, Swansea, and 31-year-old Patrick Godfrey, of Danygraig Road, Port Tennant, Swansea, had denied conspiracy to smuggle but were convicted following a trial at Truro Crown Court. Two other men found on the fishing boat when it was intercepted - Michael John Paul Kelly, aged 45, of Portway, Manchester, and Jake Marchant, aged 27, of no fixed address - had both previously pleaded guilty to the same offence. During the trial the court heard that the National Crime Agency had been keeping the gang - and their fishing boat the Lily Lola - under surveillance for some time, and had even managed to covertly install a GPS tracker and a voice recorder in the vessel. When the Lily Lola was seized it was found to be carrying more than 1,000 one-kilo packages wrapped in large hessian sacks. All four defendants will be sentenced on May 8.

In recent years there have been a series of incidents in which packages of drugs have washed up around the coast of the UK, including in Wales. In October 2022 packages of cocaine worth around £42m were washed ashore at Tan-y-Bwlch south of Aberystwyth where they were spotted by a man out for an early morning stroll.