Drugs yacht accused 'stocked up with fuel'

4:45pm Wednesday 19th September 2007

A MAN accused of plotting to bring £6.5million worth of cocaine ashore in an inflatable boat stocked up on fuel just hours before his arrest, a court heard.

Paul Jorgensen, 45, and his accomplice Stephen Hegarty, both of Springhill Road, Accrington, visited a garage in Pembrokeshire, South Wales, on May 12 last year, Preston Crown Court was told.

Garage owner John Henry Fisher said the pair arrived in a red Land Rover and filled cans with 71 litres of unleaded petrol.

He said in a written statement that they returned an hour later with a speedboat attached to the vehicle and bought a further 20 litres of fuel.

The prosecution allege the pair were preparing to make a long trip out to sea to locate the Samba Pa Ti luxury racing yacht, which had broken down after travelling across the Atlantic with the drugs.

Ninety kilos of cocaine were found concealed in two holdalls inside the shower compartment of the £100,000 yacht by customs officers in May last year, the court was told Jorgenson has denied conspiracy to import cocaine.

Six men and one woman pleaded guilty to their part in the plot at an earlier hearing.

They were Hegarty, 47, James Downie, 47, of Whalley Road, Accrington; Lee Morgan, 41, of Lyndale Road, Hapton; Erwin Kapitin, 38, the Dutch captain of the yacht; his brother Johan Ranft, 39, Gerharbus Ranft, 32; and Odezia Silva, 31, both from Brazil, and who were on board the vessel.

The court heard evidence from Kenneth Morgan, who lives in South Wales, and was on the beach at Freshwater Bay on May 12.

He described to jurors how he saw two men with a Land Rover towing an inflatable speedboat.

He said he did not suspect anything untoward and helped the men when the boat became stuck on the beach. Mr Morgan said: "They had fishing rods. I thought they were going fishing for a few days.

"They said they would be out all night. They said they were rushing home to Manchester and one said his wife was having a baby." The court also heard evidence from William James Ernest Geece, commander of the Customs vessel appointed to locate the yacht.

He said he located the stranded vessel at 11.50am and it had its sail up. Officers were sent to the yacht, where drugs were discovered, and took three people who were onboard back to the Customs ship.

The yacht, which had run into technical difficulties was towed to South Wales by Customs, the court was told.

Following his arrest, Jorgensen told officers: "It was all a misunderstanding". He claims he only went to Wales to try and talk another man out of taking part in the plot, the court was told.

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