A drug gang audaciously planned to smuggle 600kg of cocaine into the UK in a transatlantic sailing race.
But they were thwarted when it was axed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The organised crime group then moved on to other drug smuggling and were jailed for a total of 111 years yesterday (10 Sept).
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Mastermind Lee McClenaghan came up with the failed plot with sidekick, Lea Talbot.
The pair used the encrypted communications platform EncroChat to discuss their plan.
They bought a yacht to enter the annual event, which runs from St Lucia to Lagos in Portugal.
The 3,664-mile journey would have taken about two weeks to complete.
Talbot, 55, went to meet Venezuelan drug cartel bosses before the race in 2020.
McClenaghan, 57, hired 68-year-old sailing expert Ian Magee to do what was thought to be a dummy run in the sailing content the year before.
Daniel Braithwaite, 61, was recruited to deal with the money.
The plot was two years in the planning, but the race was cancelled in May 2020 due to the pandemic.
A National Crime Agency spokesperson said: “An organised crime group who hatched an audacious plan to smuggle 600 kilos of cocaine on a yacht participating in a transatlantic sailing race and imported more than half a tonne of cannabis, have been jailed for a total of more than 111 years.
“Lee McClenaghan and his close associate, Lea Talbot, were investigated by the Organised Crime Partnership – a joint National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police Service unit.
“McClenaghan and Talbot used the encrypted communications platform EncroChat to discuss their offending, under the handles ‘catwithninelives’ and ‘legitimateyak’ respectively.
“McClenaghan instigated the plot to sail the vessel in the race, an annual event which runs from St Lucia to Lagos in Portugal, and sent Talbot to meet with Venezuelan drug cartel bosses before the contest in 2020.
“The pair spent two years planning the venture, only to see the race cancelled in May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
They added: “McClenaghan employed Ian Magee, 68, and also from Chelmsford, to source and sail a yacht called the ‘Ocean Magic’ in the 2019 race in what investigators believe may have been a dummy run.
“Daniel Braithwaite helped arrange prices and payments for the drugs.
Magee, and another man he employed due to his sailing experience, purchased a vessel called the ‘Sotirius’, which they planned to load with the cocaine and enter into the 2020 race.”
The gang then moved their attention to importing cannabis from Canada, Morocco and South Africa, as reported on Need To Know.
McClenaghan, of Chelmsford, Essex, was again the main driver behind it, assisted by Braithwaite and 61-year-old Paul Tozer.
They were assisted by 52-year-old Karl Richter and 60-year-old Kane Ward.
Other gang members were 41-year-old Stephen Persaud, 37-year-old Sundeep Grewal and John Campbell, 69.
McClenaghan, Talbot, of Chadwell St Mary, Essex, Braithwaite, of Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, Magee, of Chelmsford, Campbell, of Willesden Lane, Kilburn, north London and Ward, were jailed for 30 years, 23 years, 22 years, 20 years, 10 years and six years and six months respectively at Chelmsford Crown Court.
Tozer, of Epping, Essex, got six years, Grewal, of Grays, Essex, got three years and four months and Persaud, of Upminster, Essex, got two years and six months.
Richter, of Swansea, is due to be sentenced on 16 October.
Det Insp Richard Smith, from the Organised Crime Partnership, said: “The cocaine smuggling plan conceived by McClenaghan and Talbot was daring and would have been incredibly lucrative had it succeeded.
“Its failure deprived organised criminals of the profits this large amount of cocaine would have generated, and prevented communities suffering the violence and exploitation associated with it.
“Undeterred, this OCG diversified into importing huge quantities of cannabis, operations which McClenaghan controlled at every level.
“This case is yet another great example of the unique collaboration between the National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police, with the Organised Crime Partnership protecting Londoners and communities across the UK from the scourge of drugs supply.”
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