Gang used fishing boat to smuggle £1.4m of ketamine

A gang of drug smugglers who snuck £1.4m of ketamine into Suffolk using a fishing boat have been jailed.

Sean Seymour, Richard Saul, Nathan Wellard, Alexander Sampson-Chambers, and Domenic Labella were arrested by the National Crime Agency in February 2024.

Some of the group had been on the boat, having travelled from Amsterdam to the county on a fishing vessel named Girl Carole, while others waited on land.

After pleading guilty at the start of a trial on Thursday, the five men, from Suffolk, Norfolk and Kent, were sentenced to a total of 18 years at Ipswich Crown Court.

Saul, 43, of Mill Lane, Woodbridge, Suffolk, was jailed for eight years, while Seymour, 60, of Beech Road, Saxmundham, Suffolk, was given four years and two months.

Labella, 21, of Beaconsfield Road, Ipswich, and Wellard, 55, of Thetford Road, Northwold, Norfolk, were each given a two-year sentence, suspended for 18 months, and 100 hours of unpaid work

Sampson-Chambers, 36, of Gipsy Road, Welling, in Kent, was also given a two-year sentence, suspended for 18 months, but 150 hours of unpaid work.

All five of the men were charged and convicted of being concerned in the importation of controlled drugs into the UK.

Saul, Seymour, and Labella were also sentenced for being concerned in the supply of controlled drugs and possession with intent to supply controlled drugs.

Ingrid Watson, regional head of investigations at the NCA, said the gang had tried to operate within the "cover of darkness" to smuggle drugs into the country.

"Little did they know, their crimes were being watched by the NCA, and this expedition would end in their arrest," she said.

"Richard Saul was the ringleader of the group, boasting about his extensive criminal enterprise and how easy he believed it was to smuggle drugs with his associates."

The men were caught by the NCA during the early hours of the morning on 17 February 2024 after Seymour was seen driving to meet a boat on the River Deben.

On his way, he picked up Labella before continuing to an isolated jetty in Ramsholt, before the vessel arrived at 04:18 GMT.

The two then boarded the boat and offloaded boxes containing 200 kilos of ketamine and 10 kilos of cannabis, which they took to a unit on an industrial estate in Rendelsham.

They were arrested by officers before Saul, Wellard, and Sampson-Chambers were detained on the boat by the Maritime Counter Terrorism Specialist Firearms unit, which also found a deactivated shotgun onboard.

"Ketamine usage has increased in the UK, and users should be aware of the horrific physical and mental damage it causes," added Watson.

"The NCA will continue to work with partners overseas to stop drugs reaching the streets of the UK and keep criminal groups like this one off the streets."

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