Steven Brogan and Anthony Reilly of Skelmersdale, England, were recently sentenced to prison for attempting to smuggle cocaine across the North Sea, the BBC reported Tuesday.
Brogan and Reilly had to be rescued by Her Majesty’s Coastguard (HMCG) Sept. 30, 2020, after their jet ski ran out of fuel during a smuggling operation, the outlet reported.
Two men from Skelmersdale been jailed after their attempt to cross the North Sea on a jet ski with £200,000 of cocaine in a backpack ended in a rescue operation when they ran out of fuel. Steven Brogan, 36, & 34-yr-old Anthony Reilly were collecting the drugs from The Netherlands pic.twitter.com/OHeULCW8Ph
— BBC North West (@BBCNWT) February 16, 2021
“At one point they were pitched into the sea,” prosecutor Hugh Vass said. The men reportedly suffered from hypothermia and exhaustion, according to The Independent.
Brogan and Reilly were arrested upon arrival at a hospital in Norfolk, England, where police found two kilos of cocaine in their backpack. The cocaine had an estimated value of about £200,000, or $300,000, The Lancashire Telegraph reported. (Related: Busted! The Worst Drug Smuggling Attempts Ever)
Judge Richard Christie sentenced Brogan to seven years and six months in prison, and Reilly to exactly seven years, according to the outlet. He described the smuggling operation as a “sophisticated enterprise.”