Eleven convicted in UK cocaine smuggling plot of 500 kg

Eleven people have been convicted in the United Kingdom for their roles in a complex plot to recover half a tonne of cocaine dumped into the sea from a container ship, a scheme that nearly failed when GPS trackers attached to the drugs stopped working. The convictions, secured at Portsmouth Crown Court on July 22, 2026, follow a lengthy investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and several regional police forces.

The operation began in August 2024 when approximately 500 kilograms of cocaine, with an estimated street value of 40 million pounds, were dropped into international waters about 40 nautical miles south of the Isle of Wight. The drugs were packed in waterproof bundles equipped with GPS trackers to facilitate recovery. In the early hours of August 17, David Paterson, a 49-year-old oil rig worker from Peterhead, Scotland, sailed from Haslar Marina in Portsmouth aboard a rigid-hulled inflatable boat named the Amma Sigga to locate the shipment.

Paterson was directed via WhatsApp messages from an accomplice, Lewis Watts, 37, who was monitoring the operation from shore. Watts instructed Paterson to signal a passing container ship, but the GPS trackers on the cocaine...