Two Turkish men found guilty of drug smuggling after £500M of cocaine found on ship
MV Hamal intercepted off the coast of Aberdeen last April and the Class A drug recovered
The captain and second in command of a boat carrying a record £512 million cocaine haul have been convicted of an international drug smuggling operation.
47 year old Mumin Sahin and 50 year old Emin Ozmen were busted after the MV Hamal was stopped 100 miles east off the Aberdeenshire coast in April last year.
A massive 3.2 tonnes of high purity cocaine was discovered hidden in a ballast tank at the front of the ship.
The pair now face lengthy jail-terms after being found guilty following a 12-week trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
They were convicted of smuggling cocaine on the MV Hamal as well as a separate charge of being concerned in the supply of the drug.
Sahin held his head in his hands as the verdicts were announced.
Kayacan Dalgakirin (54), Mustafa Guven (48), Umit Colakel (29), Ibrahim Dag (48) were cleared of the allegations after the jury returned not proven verdicts.
Three other men – Mustafa Ceviz (55), Abdulkadir Cirik (32) and Muhammet Seckin (27) – were cleared earlier in the trial after the same charges were thrown out.
Judge Lord Kinclaven remanded first offenders Sahin and Ozmen in custody until sentencing next month.
The smuggling was said to have occurred between February and April last year.
Prosecutors stated the boat travelled from Istanbul via Tenerife to South America then onto the North Sea.
The bust happened after the MV Hamal was halted in international waters and brought back to Aberdeen Harbour.
French customs had earlier tipped-off that drugs were on board.
The vessel was intercepted by the Royal Navy warship HMS Somerset and Border Force officials.
Sahin was the captain of the boat with Ozmen second in command.
Colakel was third captain with Dalgakirin and Dag engineers while Guven was a seaman.
A National Crime Agency officer told the trial how he and his colleagues formed a human chain to painstakingly unload 129 bales of cocaine from the tug.
Alistair Gow recalled the haul being so big, it took two days to remove. This involved a specialist “deep rummage” team being deployed.
A crane was required at the quayside to then move the bales off the ship.
In an unusual move – and amid tight security – the drugs were brought to court for the jury to see.
The purity of the cocaine ranged from between 58 and 74 per cent.
Police drugs expert Jurgen Wahla revealed the haul had a potential UK street value of £512m
This would happen if the cocaine was adulterated to around 15 per cent pure and sold in one gram deals.
Mr Wahla added: “It is a massive importation – unprecedented in what I've seen in my experience.”
The expert was also asked what were the “recognised trade routes” of shipping cocaine from where it is grown.
He told the jury: “It is now south of Venezuala and Guyana because of a lot of enforcement activity by the USA patrolling the coast."
Here is John McGowan, Head of the NCA Border Investigation Team Scotland:
The master was the only one who spoke some English and he interpreted for the men who said they were looking for work towing work as the vessel could be used as a tug.
However there was no evidence of commercial documentation and the vessel had not taken part in any work for months.
The NCA Border Investigation Team say the drugs weighted 3.2 tonnes and were 70% pure which is both the biggest haul at both land and sea in Europe.
Here is Detective Chief Superintendent Gerry McLean from Police Scotland talking about the operation to transport the drugs to the High Court in Glasgow.
Guven recalled the boat ending up in a number of locations including Greece, Tenerife and Guyana.
In her closing speech, prosecutor Ashley Edwards told the jury those guilty “played a part in concealing the drugs and allowing them to be transported”.
Investigators used a mathmetician Professor Toby Bailey from the University of Edinburgh to crack a code written down on pieces of paper found onboard the ship. The figures turned out to be the latitudes and longitudes of a scheduled meeting point.