In 2011, the 33-year-old from Wesseling near Cologne used a sailing boat to transport half a tonne of cocaine from Venezuela across the Atlantic to the Netherlands. There, his accomplice from Brühl took the drugs and allegedly "rewarded" the sailor with cash totalling one million euros. As both had already been observed by the police, the duo were quickly caught.
Yesterday, according to a report by the "Rhein-Erft Rundschau" According to the Cologne Regional Court, the two drug smugglers were sentenced to long prison terms. The sailor received eight and a half years, his accomplice five years.
What was remarkable about the offence was the fact that the man from Wesselingen had not been able to sail at all until shortly before the smuggling trip. He had learnt to do so specifically for the criminal enterprise, in an intensive three-week course on a lake near Brühl!
The Atlantic cruise, which he then completed alone for the first time in 2010, nevertheless went smoothly - as did the cruise the following year. Apparently, the only support he ever received at sea was from his colleague on the radio, who provided him with weather forecasts.
Further smuggling attempts by boat recently failed
Another attempt to smuggle drugs from Venezuela across the Atlantic to Europe by sailing yacht recently failed. In Spain, the authorities brought up a Bavaria 40 with 680 kilograms of cocaine worth around 115 million euros on board. The crew was arrested.
And the drug smuggling attempt by a German-Austrian trio last week was not crowned with success either. Two offenders from Düsseldorf and their partner from Austria had travelled by boat from the British Coastguard were intercepted. The men had intended to illegally transport two and a half tonnes of marijuana worth around nine million euros to England. They were brought before a magistrate on the island.
Pascal Schürmann
Editor YACHT
