A ROCHFORD man has been sentenced to 14 years in prison after he was caught working with an organised crime gang to smuggle millions of pounds in cocaine into the UK.

Liam West, of Apton Hall Road, was part of a drugs gang taken down by the National Crime Agency (NCA) investigating two plots to smuggle nearly £9.5million worth of cocaine into the country from Europe.

He and five other men have been jailed for a total of 85 years.

31-year-old West was recruited by a British organised crime gang to import 90 kilos of cocaine in late March 2020.

Under the pretence of a legitimate job delivering and collecting barges in Rotterdam, West skippered a tug – named the Battler – which towed a barge to the UK from the Netherlands. The cocaine was hidden inside.

It followed a plot involving Serbian Milos Bigovic, 22, a corrupt cruise worker who transported more than £2million worth of Colombian cocaine on his boat and then lowered it overboard to his accomplices.

Echo: Cruise steward - Milos Bigovic.Cruise steward - Milos Bigovic. (Image: NCA)

In April 2020, the Marella Discovery 2 was moored off the Isle of Wight. Bigovic lowered a holdall containing 28 kilos of cocaine to experienced seamen Benn Bath, 36, and Joshua Paige, 31, both from Kent.

But as the cocaine transfer happened, NCA’s colleagues from Border Force were watching.

Realising they were about to be arrested, the duo dissolved the drugs into the sea.

Bigovic was arrested and admitted importing cocaine. He was jailed for 11 years in 2021.

On Thursday, at Winchester Crown Court, Bath and Paige were convicted of the same charge alongside ringleaders Christopher Mealey, 47, from Liverpool, and Paul Farrell, 44, from Manchester.

The bust was part of Operation Venetic, an NCA-led takedown of an encrypted communications platform named EncroChat – which was used by Farrell, Mealey, and Bath.

Evidence provided in Operation Venetic revealed the planning and communications behind the conspiracy to recover the drugs from the boat.

It also uncovered the further plot involving West.

NCA operations manager Jules Harriman said: “The Venetic evidence in this case was a game changer and showed the extent of these men’s offences.

“This gang clearly had international connections and was able to orchestrate crimes with accomplices abroad that damaged the UK.

“The NCA has the reach and capabilities to tackle such harmful crime groups that have strands overseas and we work with key partners, such as Border Force, to protect the public from the Class A drugs threat.”