Two Brits have been jailed for attempting to import a ton of drugs worth £500million into Australia after being caught by the “worst pocket dial in history”.
Graham Palmer, 37, and Scott Jones, 38, were among those who tried to smuggle in several Class A drugs into the country but were stopped during their bungled crime.
The group - which included American Jason Lassiter, 47, Australian Angus Jackson, 53, as well as skipper Antoine Dicenta - had concocted their scheme in Thailand, ABC New s reported.
In 2019 Dicenta and Palmer picked up cocaine, methamphetamine and ecstasy from South Africa in their boat known as the Zero.
During the deal however Dicenta accidentally started recording, and was later heard in court saying: “You have to put it inside before the other boat comes … this is not cocaine, this is the other thing, it's not heavy at all.”
After a six-week voyage they arrived in Western Australia but their vessel ran aground off the coast of Geraldton.
They were to transfer the drugs to another vessel called DW 140 containing their co-conspirators but it also ran aground.
They were eventually picked up by police who had been alerted by a fisherman who had spotted their stricken vessels.
Officers found 40 duffel bags full of drugs hidden under seaweed.
The group had claimed to be on a boys’ fishing trip but were found guilty in court.
The Australian Supreme Court today sentenced Jackson and Lassiter to 33 years jail, with a non-parole period of 23 years.
Jones was handed a 25-year sentence, with a 17-year minimum while Palmer received a 22-year sentence with a non-parole period of 15 years.
Dicenta, 53, has admitted his guilt but not yet been sentenced.
Last month Czech police seized over 907kg of cocaine with a street value around £68 million when it was mistakenly delivered to supermarkets hidden in banana shipments.
Workers in several supermarkets across the country discovered powder-filled packages in the banana crates before alerting the authorities with the entire haul seized by police.
Nearly 2,200 pounds of cocaine was collected after the shipment arrived via Hamburg – Europe's second largest port – which had reportedly originated from Colombia.
"Supermarket workers found moulded cocaine cubes in boxes with bananas this afternoon," the police said on Twitter , accompanied by pictures of some of the seized cocaine.
