The Central Court in Lisbon sentenced two men each to ten years in prison for trying to import 660 kilos of cocaine hidden on a yacht.
The pair had started their doomed voyage from the Caribbean where one of them bought the 13 metre yacht from a Spaniard living in the Dominican Republic: they also bought a shipment of cocaine.
In October 2014, the men set sail for Europe with no national registration flag and with a UK registration number that had expired several years before.
This highly suspicious journey was tracked by the US Drug Enforcement Administration whose officers alerted Portugal’s Judicial Police which in turn requested support from the Portuguese Air Force which flew over the yacht twice, tracking it as it sailed between the Açores and Madeira.
On 14 October last year, with the help of Portuguese Navy special forces, the police borded the yacht about 170 nautical miles from Sagres and detained the two Ukrainians aged 39 and 45.
Stowed aboard were about 660 kilos of cocaine, enough the judges heard for 2 million wraps with a street value of €30 million.
The Lisbon judges were not impressed and handed out ten and a half year jail sentences and confiscated the yacht and other items seized including the GPS, a satellite phone and some money which the state will keep.
The court also ordered that after serving their sentences, both men will be expelled from Portugal and will not be allowed back for at least ten years.
