Scot, 24, admits £40m cocaine haul import after cops swoop on pub

A Scot has admitted to conspiring to import Class A drugs worth £40 million after it was allegedly smuggled into the UK on a boat.

Daniel Livingstone, 24, from Campbelltown, was part of a trio of Scots who were arrested last month in connection with the discovery of half a tonne of cocaine. The haul was discovered in the back of a Vauxhall Vivaro van in the car park of the Stags Head Inn in Humberside after a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation.

Two other men will stand trial in October accused of the same offence as Livingstone, and also of conspiring to supply cocaine, reports the Hull Daily Mail.

Three men from Argyll and Bute – Anthony McAllister, 33, of Aldersyde, Taynuilt; Daniel Livingstone, 24, of Calton Avenue, Campbeltown; and Mark Moran, 22, of Glenfyne Terrace, Ardrishaig. were arrested on May 4. A fourth man, Didier Javier Tordecilla Reyes, a Colombian national of no fixed abode, was also arrested in connection.

Around 500kg of cocaine with a potential street value of around £40 million was found in the back of a van in a car park in Lelley in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

It is alleged that the drugs had been transferred from a larger vessel sailing off the coast of Hull using a RHIB a few hours before. A smaller boat was found abandoned on rocks at Easington Beach.

The three Scottish men faced two charges when they appeared at Hull Crown Court on Wednesday while the Colombian man has not yet been arraigned as he is in the process of applying to change his solicitor.

Livingstone pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to “evade the prohibition on the importation of a controlled drug of Class A namely a quantity of cocaine” between March 1 and May 4 this year. He pleaded not guilty to a second charge of conspiring “together with others unknown to supply a drug of Class A, namely cocaine to persons unknown” on or before May 4, 2024.

The court heard that both pleas were accepted by the Crown and he will not stand trial on the second charge. McAllister and Moran pleaded not guilty to both charges.

Judge Anthony Dunne set a trial date for October 21. The court heard that Livingstone will be sentenced once the trial of Moran and McAllister has finished and the men were remanded in custody. A hearing will take place next week in relation to the application by Reyes to change solicitor.

NCA Senior Investigating Officer Alan French previously said last month: “This was a significant amount of cocaine and its seizure will be a sizeable blow to the organised crime group which attempted to smuggle it into the UK. There’s no doubt these drugs would have been sold into communities around the UK, fuelling further crime and exploitation.

“Working with our law enforcement partners we are determined to do all we can to disrupt criminal activity, and protect the UK’s border security. Our investigation continues following these arrests.”

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