Swansea men deny conspiracy to smuggle £200m of cocaine into UK on fishing boat

The fishing vessel Lily Lola was intercepted by Border Force officers

Two men from Swansea have denied being part of gang which allegedly tried smuggle a tonne of cocaine into the UK. Jon Paul Williams and Patrick Godfrey were among four men arrested after Border Force officers intercepted a fishing boat off the Cornish coast on September 13 this year.

The National Crime Agency said the vessel, the Torbay-registered Lily Lola, was found to contain almost a tonne of the Class A drug worth around £200m. Four men were subsequently charged in relation to the seizure.

Jon Paul Williams, aged 46, of St Thomas, Swansea; Patrick Godfrey, aged 30, of Port Tennant, Swansea; Michael Kelly, aged 45, of Portway, Manchester; and 26-year-old Jake Marchant, of no fixed address, all pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to import a controlled drug of Class A when they appeared at Truro Crown Court. A trial date was set for March 3 next year with a pre-trial review to be held in February.

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