Four men found not guilty of smuggling cocaine found on yacht

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A photo of Plymouth Crown Court
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Four men, from Nicaragua, were found not guilty at Plymouth Crown Court

Four men were found not guilty of smuggling more than two tonnes of cocaine, found in a yacht.

Billy Downs, 51, Denson White-Morales, 35, Edwin Taylor-Morgan, 42, and Ryan Taylor, 43, all from Nicaragua, were found not guilty by a jury after a trial at Plymouth Crown Court.

They were among six men arrested when a yacht was detained in the English Channel in 2021 carrying an estimated £160m worth of drugs.

It was escorted into Plymouth, Devon.

A British man, Andrew Cole, 32, from Stockton-on-Tees, faces a jail sentence in connection with the smuggling.

Cole admitted a charge of being knowingly concerned in carrying or concealing a class A drug between 21 August and 10 September 2021 at an earlier hearing.

He was remanded in custody and is awaiting sentence.

The prosecution said it will offer no evidence against a fifth Nicaraguan man, Brynie Sjogreen, 39, whose case was due to be heard after the main trial ended.

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