Cocaine importer jailed for 26 years
By VIVIENNE OAKLEY
26aug03
A COLOMBIAN involved in importing cocaine with a street value of $400 million will spend at least the next 26 years in an Australian jail.
Nearly one tonne of compressed white powder -- which contained 707kg of pure cocaine bound for Sydney -- was landed on the remote central West Australian coast in July 2001.
Three men used two inflatable motorised dinghies to transfer the drug from a ship called The White Dove to a remote beach 700km north of Perth at night.
They hid the drug in a crevice in a rock face, but just after dawn were arrested by Australian Federal Police and members of the WA police tactical response group who had watched the landing.
Ferdnando de la Espriella-Velasco, 34, was arrested later that day in a motorhome at Geraldton, 200km south of the beach.
He pleaded not guilty to a charge of being knowingly concerned with importing the cocaine, but was found guilty by a WA Supreme Court jury last week.
Prosecutor John Agius, QC, submitted yesterday that this crime required life imprisonment.
"This was nothing less than an assault on the citizens of this country," he said.
Justice Michael Murray said de la Espriella-Velasco was controlling the shore-based operation and expected to collect the drugs and ship's crew after they landed.
Information before the court from the federal police showed the cocaine at street level was expected to fetch $400 million.
Intercepted telephone calls revealed de la Espriella-Velasco expected to receive about $300,000 -- probably US dollars -- for his part in the operation.
Justice Murray imposed a life sentence, with a non-parole period of 26 years.
From:
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,7062086%5E662,00.html
