Divers jailed for £1.5m drugs found on ship

Matthew Woodcraft, 31, of High Road, Benfleet, and Lee Woolcock, 32, of Beech Road, Hadleigh, were sentenced to six and four years' imprisonment at Woolwich Crown Court for conspiracy to supply more than 200 kilos of cannabis.

They were arrested as they attempted to recover their haul from the hull of a container ship carrying sugar from Jamaica.

Armed Metropolitan Police officers, accompanied by a specialist gun boat, were tipped off and captured the men as they surfaced from the icy Thames under cover of darkness at Woolwich Dock.

The drugs were hidden in cans and waterproof bags, concealed near the rudder of the ship, moored at the Tate & Lyle refinery.

Detective Superintendent Barry Phillips said: "This is the first time divers have been arrested in territorial waters."

It is believed the cannabis had been planted under the ship without the knowledge of its crew when it was in port in Kingston Harbour.

Leading the operation, Detective Inspector Peter South said: "This case highlights the expertise and sophistication of organised Jamaican crime."

The ex-boxing champions found themselves out of their depth in an international drug smuggling syndicate after visiting the West Indies on holiday last year.

Mr Woodcraft told the inquest they met a fellow diver in Jamaica who got them involved in an international drug smuggling syndicate.

The Jamaican borrowed £4,000 and told them they would have to recover the drugs if they wanted to be repaid.

Their sentences are based on the current law under which cannabis is listed as a class B drug.

If parliament passes a new law next spring, cannabis will become a class C drug, and supplying it will hold a maximum sentence of five years.

Judge Hubert Dunn, QC, said: "I do not think it is appropriate for me to take into account how the law will stand next year."

The investigation was a joint effort by the Met's Operation Trident and HM Customs and Excise.

November 19, 2001 11:30