Jerseymen jailed after £40 million cocaine seizure

Monday 05 January 2015

Two Jerseymen have begun long prison sentences after admitting their part in a huge plot to smuggle millions of pounds worth of cocaine into the UK.

David Romano (57) and Michael Ashford (42) have been jailed for ten and seven years respectively by a court in the Caribbean island of Martinique.

They were busted in early November when their yacht was boarded at sea in a joint raid by the French Customs Coast Guard as the pair set off for the UK. A search revealed that the yacht was laden down with a quarter of a tonne of what the UK National Crime Agency has called “high purity cocaine”.

The investigation started with an NCA investigation into London-based gangsters, and led all the way to the Caribbean and the two Jerseymen.

Hank Cole, the NCA’s head of international operations, said: “Had we not intervened these drugs would have ended up being sold on the streets of London.

“Drug trafficking is an international issue so our response has to be the same, co-operating with law enforcement colleagues across the globe.

“That co-operation led to this shipment being taken out before it could reach Britain and it shows how our international work has a direct impact on protecting communities here in the UK.”

Detective Superintendent Neil Thompson, from the MPS Organised Crime Command, said: "Working alongside the NCA, it is clear that the drugs recovered would have been distributed throughout the streets of London and beyond, generating further criminality and fuelling gang activity.

“These arrests show that there is no criminal out there that is beyond our reach - if you deal in drugs in any scale we will find you and you will face the consequences of your actions."