Two Scots jailed for £42m cocaine smuggling after undercover footage links them to Colombian cartel

Two Scottish men were jailed for a combined 36 years after undercover footage tied them to a £42 million cocaine-smuggling operation linked to a Colombian cartel. Mark Moran, 22, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, Daniel Livingstone, 55, received seven years and nine months, and Didier Tordecilla Reyes, the Colombian intermediary who arranged the handoff, was jailed for 13 and a half years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to import cocaine. The 524 kilograms of cocaine, with a street value of about £42 million, were seized after investigators intercepted the group in a pub car park following the handover on the East Yorkshire coast in May 2024.

Underwater and dusk-vision footage released by investigators traces the men from the moment Moran and Reyes bought a rigid-hulled inflatable boat to the moment the drugs were transferred to a hire van and driven away. The clips show Moran purchasing the RHIB on April 25, 2024, at Humber Ribs in Hull, the group attaching the boat to a vehicle and refueling with Jerry cans, and then launching the boat from Humber Bridge, Hessell, to cross the North Sea and retrieve the consignment. A few hours later, night-vision cameras captured them returning to the coast at Easington, unloading the cocaine from the boat into the hire van while Livingstone stood nearby, shining a torch into the sea and speaking on his phone before the trio drove off. They were arrested after arriving at a nearby hotel in the village of Lelley, about 18 miles away.

The drugs were described as very high purity, estimated at 86–89 percent, and investigators called the seizure one of the largest of its kind at the time. An investigator for Britain’s so-called FBI counterpart said there was no doubt the drugs would have been sold into communities around the United Kingdom had the plot not been disrupted. The Daily Mail’s investigation also related the undercover footage to the broader network that fed the cartel and helped to finance operations in both Europe and South America.

NCA Senior Investigating Officer Alan French said Reyes was an integral contact with cartel bosses in Colombia. 'Without his input, the cocaine would never have got into Moran and Livingstone's hands,' French said. He credited the joint efforts of the National Crime Agency, Humberside Police and Border Force for thwarting the plot and for dealing a significant financial blow to organized crime groups that profit from class A drugs. '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,' French added.

Defense lawyers sought to downplay the defendants' involvement. Moran's barrister, Derek Duffy, contended that Moran played a minor role and that the operation was cartel-organised from South America. Michael Forest, representing Livingstone, said his client had been offered about £40,000 to drive the van to pick up the drugs and that debt and the lure of easy money had led him down a dark path. Reyes pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import cocaine in July of the previous year.

Reyes, who acted as the go-between with cartel bosses, was sentenced to 13 and a half years in Hull Crown Court. Livingstone, of Calton Avenue in Campbeltown, received seven years and nine months, while Moran, of Glenfyne Terrace in Ardrishaig, was jailed for 15 years after being found guilty of conspiracy to import cocaine following a trial. A fourth man from Argyll and Bute was cleared by the jury.

The case underscores the ongoing efforts by UK authorities to dismantle international drug networks and the human costs behind large-scale smuggling schemes. Investigators emphasised that close cooperation among agencies was essential to intercept the supply chain before the drugs reached British streets, and that every seizure disrupts a wider criminal enterprise that can harm communities far from the coastline where the operation began.