THREE men who claimed to have been selling a rigid hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) but were actually collecting cocaine worth £26.5 million from a ship off the West Somerset coast were on Thursday (November 13) sentenced to lengthy jail terms.

Taunton Crown Court Judge Paul Cook handed down sentences of more than 11 years to two of the gang and 16 years to the third member following a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation.

Craig Nuttall, aged 51, and his brother Raymond Nuttall, aged 47, both from Preston, had arrived in Watchet Marina on July 23 this year.

The pair provided details of a RHIB named ‘Guzzla’ and told the marina manager they planned to be in the area for a few days to go fishing.

On the evening of July 30 they were joined by Greek national Anestis Tsepa, aged 24, from Thessalonika, and 38-year-old Albanian national Melios Delvina.

Raymond Nuttall was seen to drive a van to the quayside before removing two jerry cans and a hose from the rear.

By 8.46 pm, Craig Nuttall, Tsepa, and Delvina were in the RHIB wearing lifejackets and heading out to sea.

Audio messages later discovered on Tsepa’s device showed they were organising an at-sea drop off, where a larger vessel, otherwise known as a mother ship, is believed to have dropped illegal drugs into the water for collection by the smaller boat.

In the background of the messages, the Guzzla’s engine can be heard as the gang travels, discussing how long it would take their smaller, daughter vessel to arrive, clarifying which mother vessel they should follow and that they were now ready and waiting for the larger vessel to give a signal.

They returned to the marina at 1 am and began to try to connect the boat to a trailer which Raymond Nuttall had driven down the slipway.

However, NCA officers swooped and arrested the four men on suspicion of importation of Class A drugs.

The Guzzla was searched and found to contain a large number of bale-sized packages which had been stored along the floor and between the seats.

There were 14 packages in total, containing a further 322 smaller packages weighing a kilogramme each.

The substance inside was tested and found to be cocaine with an 89 per cent purity.

The drugs were valued at £26.5 million at street level.

A firearm was also discovered in the boat.

The Nuttalls and Tsepa provided ‘no comment’ responses to NCA officers during interviews.

Delvina gave a prepared statement in which he said he was unemployed and took work to unload items from a boat into a van with no knowledge of the drugs inside.

The Nuttalls pleaded guilty in Taunton Crown Court on August 29 to importation of cocaine, with Tsepa and Delvina admitting the same charges on September 5.

Tsepa also pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm and ammunition.

Raymond and Craig Nuttall were sentenced to jail terms of 11 years and three months and 11 years and two months, respectively, while Tsepa was given a 16-year term of imprisonment.

Delvina is due to be sentenced on December 11.

NCA regional head of investigations Gavin Webb said: “These men were working as part of an organised crime group, using the cover of darkness to collect a significant amount of cocaine that would have ended up on the streets of the UK.

“They were fuelled by greed.

“If their attempt had been successful it would have netted them millions of pounds in profit.

“The presence of a firearm in the boat shows the levels they were willing to go to with their offending.

“The NCA is confronting and dealing with at-sea drugs drop-offs as a priority to ensure illegal drugs do not make it to UK shores.

“Dedicated officers from the NCA were aided by, and are grateful for, the vital support of, our partners in Border Force, the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit, Avon and Somerset Police, and Devon and Cornwall Police.

“These criminals are now behind bars.”

The court imposed reporting restrictions on the naming of two other men who were charged on November 6 in relation to the same seizure.