Five Men Sentenced for GBP 1.4 Million Ketamine Smuggling via Suffolk Fishing Boat
Five men have been sentenced following a National Crime Agency investigation after GBP 1.4 million of ketamine was smuggled via a fishing boat from Amsterdam to Suffolk. NCA officers were watching as Sean Seymour, 60, from Saxmundham, stood at the coast looking out to sea for sight of a vessel on 16 February 2024.
In the early hours of the following day, 17 February 2024, a fishing vessel called 'Girl Carole' was seen entering the River Deben in Suffolk with Seymour driving to meet it. On his way, he stopped to pick up Domenic Labella, 21, from Ipswich, before continuing on to an isolated jetty in Ramsholt.
The fishing vessel Girl Carole arrived into the jetty and at 4.18am and Seymour and Labella were seen boarding the boat and returning to his vehicle, carrying large boxes. The two men drove to an industrial estate in Rendelsham where they unloaded boxes into a storage unit.
A later search of the unit discovered 200 kilos of ketamine and 10 kilos of cannabis resin. By 5.04am, NCA officers had stopped their car and both men were arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply.
Twenty minutes later, the Girl Carole was stopped by officers from the maritime Counter Terrorism Specialist Firearms unit who boarded and found Richard Saul, 43, from Woodbridge, Nathan Wellard, 55, from Thetford, and Alexander Sampson-Chambers, 36, from Welling on board. They were all arrested for being concerned in the importation of controlled drugs into the UK and taken into custody.
A deactivated shotgun was found on board as well as silver bars and a diary containing information relating to boat equipment, contacts, sea coordinates and potential meetings with other ships out at sea. These diaries had been seen with Saul during surveillance by NCA officers.
Surveillance by the NCA had also overheard a number of conversations with Saul. In one, he talked about paying out GBP 80,000 in expenses to set up the drugs operation and his willingness to travel to pick up drugs.
He was heard to say 'if you can get that stock in Holland I'll run every f***ing week twice a week and we'd f***ing nail it'. In another, he said he had already done four runs in the summer and called his criminal venture 'a piece of p*ss'.
Another conversation heard Saul discussing a job he was doing for an unknown person at the weekend, acting as a 'skipper for hire' for organised crime groups. He discussed costs and payment and Saul stated his 'rule of thumb [is he] would take 10%' of any value.
In a third conversation, Saul was heard discussing stealing a load of cocaine from a warehouse in Holland worth GBP 3m. He stated if he was successful in stealing the drugs, 'that would be a nice start to the f***ing year, I can have the f***ing rest of the year off'.
NCA investigators believe the group was working together to pick up the drugs in Amsterdam, working with Dutch partners to monitor the boat while it was in the Netherlands and on its departure.
