“now you stand (…) convicted of a very serious offence involving the agreement to import Class A drugs into this country, into the UK. It was on a scale which can readily be said to be commercial, for the quantity was well over 100 kilograms, with a potential street value of £16 million.
The plot itself, in the main, was extremely well-executed, the regular voyages of coal vessels from Colombia to Europe, and we are concerned with a voyage of one such vessel called the [X] from Colombia to the Clyde, in Scotland. It seems the established pattern of secreting large quantities of Cocaïne in the rudder trunking of those vehicles, vessels, because of the easy access from the sea as well from the ship itself. We have seen photographs of the careful packaging of those drugs and the secure fastening of them to the vessel itself so that they would be available for collection once they arrived in the port, or the approaches to the port. All that was necessary, therefore, was for those drugs to be taken from that vessel and the importation was complete.
The evidence, it seems to me, is clear, that you, [eiser] , (…) were involved in this scheme in a leading role, because the two of you went to Colombia, and no doubt there organised the sourcing and also the stowing of this material. You, [eiser] (…) were resident in the house where the computers were kept which tracked those vessels, and in particular the [X] , so that the two of you knew when the vessels you were interested in were in Dutch waters or in English waters or, in the event, in Scottish waters, and it was you, [eiser] (…) who put together this ad hoc team in order to unload them, or that is how it appears. It may well be that your role was different, that you were merely there to keep your eye on things, to inform others, but that does not matter. You have been clearly convicted on the surest evidence of being involved, and being involved in a leading role.
I pondered long and hard whether or not I could make a distinction between you two. I have decided that I can, but only just, because (…) it was [eiser] who was driving this particular end of this scheme.
Now, having said all that, I have to tell you that I have to have regard to the sentencing guidelines which have been laid down for the Courts in this country, and for importations on this scale and with this commercial magnitude the Court has to adopt a sentence when people play a leading role which is beyond 16 years. It seems to me that that applies also to offences of conspiracy as well as the actual importation”