Colombian man jailed for role in £42 million cocaine-smuggling plot into UK

A Colombian man involved in a drug-smuggling gang that tried to bring £42 million worth of cocaine into the UK on a small boat has been jailed, authorities said. Didier Reyes, 40, was arrested in Lelley, East Yorkshire, in May 2024 by National Crime Agency officers who found 524kg of cocaine hidden inside a rental van parked outside a pub. He had acted as a contact for drug cartels in Colombia before flying to Britain to play a key role in the operation, which involved ferrying the packages around on a rigid-hulled inflatable boat.

Reyes joined co-conspirator Mark Moran, 24, of Argyll and Bute, Scotland, to sail the RHIB from the Hessle slipway hours before heading back with the drugs on board. The stash was unloaded at a beach near a caravan park in Easington. Fellow gang member Daniel Livingstone, 25, also of Argyll and Bute, waited offshore, shining a torch and speaking on his mobile as the plan unfolded. NCA officers spotted Reyes and Moran dropping bags off the boat onto the beach, before the drugs were transferred into a van and driven away. The trio were staying in Lelley when they were arrested last year after being tracked buying a VW Touareg with a tow bar in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

The group had rented the van and purchased a boat at Humber RIBS in Hull to enable the smuggling bid. The RHIB was used to move the cocaine from the landing point to a waiting vehicle, but the operation collapsed when officers intervened. The stash was later found and seized, thwarting what prosecutors described as a major hit on UK communities.

In court, Reyes admitted to conspiracy to import cocaine and was sentenced at Hull Crown Court to 13½ years in prison. Moran, who had pleaded not guilty and was later convicted of the same charge, received a 15-year sentence in December 2024. Livingstone pleaded guilty in June last year and was jailed for seven years and nine months. A fourth man was acquitted by a jury.

NCA Senior Investigating Officer Alan French said Reyes was an integral link between drug cartel bosses in Colombia and the UK operation, and that without his input the cocaine would not have reached Moran and Livingstone. He described the partnership between the NCA, Humberside Police and Border Force as crucial in thwarting the plot and said the seizure left a significant financial hole for the criminal networks involved. "There's no doubt these drugs would have been sold into communities around the UK, but crucial partnership working between the NCA, Humberside Police and Border Force thwarted the plot and left a huge hole in the pockets of the organised crime groups that would have benefitted."

"We are determined to do all we can to tackle the threat posed by class A drugs and protect the public from the horrendous impact they have on our society."