Two jailed for smuggling cocaine across Channel

Stephen Lloyd-Jones and Tiamo Zanaj were caught at Sovereign Harbour in Eastbourne

Two men who smuggled 350kg of cocaine across the English Channel have been jailed.

Stephen Lloyd-Jones and Tiamo Zanaj were caught having returned to Sovereign Harbour in Eastbourne, East Sussex, on a boat used to collect their illicit haul from a cargo ship.

Despite losing more than half their haul in the sea, the cocaine found by police had a street value of £35m.

At Kingston Crown Court, Lloyd-Jones, 56, and Zanaj, 33, were sentenced on Wednesday to 24 years’ and 22 years’ imprisonment respectively.

Kursat Kizilkaya, 33, who was also caught on board the boat, will be sentenced at a later date.

All three, who were found guilty of a conspiracy to smuggle cocaine, were part of a wider criminal enterprise, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

Stephen Lloyd-Jones and Tiamo Zanaj smuggled 350kg (771lb) of cocaine across the English Channel

Lloyd-Jones, of Folkestone, Kent, purchased a 35ft (10.6m) Kingfisher Sport Explorer boat for £100,000 and was referred to as the captain.

Images found on Zanaj’s phone showed how the cocaine had been wrapped in 1kg (2.2lb) blocks and loaded into waterproof holdalls, each containing 25 blocks.

Adverse weather conditions caused damage to the boat, with Lloyd-Jones suffering serious injuries to his fingers, and meant half their load was lost to the sea during the night between 17 and 18 February 2023, the CPS added.

Paul Goddard, of the CPS, said: “Lloyd-Jones, a self-confessed master mariner, spun a web of lies while sourcing the equipment needed to smuggle such a large quantity of drugs.

“He and Zanaj knew exactly what they were doing and had an agreed mission to smuggle a vast amount of cocaine into the UK which, if successful, would have been worth tens of millions of pounds.”