WIREDGOV

A fugitive wanted in connection with a drug trafficking investigation handed himself in to Gibraltar police dripping wet after learning of a National Crime Agency (NCA) Crimewatch appeal for help to find him.



Jason Waterman (below right), originally from the Watford area, arrived without warning, dripping salt water and carrying a small bag of wet clothing, late on Monday evening (19 June).

He refused to say how he had reached Gibraltar, only that it wasn’t through the frontier.



The 32-year-old, whose nicknames include Jugs and Jumbo, is believed by the NCA to have been around Bagby airfield, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, in October 2015 shortly after a light aircraft arrived from the Netherlands.



Border Force officers recovered a briefcase containing 7 kilos of cocaine with a potential street value of £1.2m from the airfield.

The aircraft pilot was arrested but later found not guilty of importation offences.



Waterman told Gibraltar police on Monday he had seen the NCA’s appeal on the BBC’s Crimewatch Roadshow that morning and wanted to hand himself in.


The NCA is now seeking to extradite him under a European Arrest Warrant.



NCA north east operations manager Brian Shaw said:
 
“It might sound like a cushy number, sitting around watching Crimewatch Roadshow on a Monday morning, but life as a fugitive is hard and stressful.
 
“The NCA first issued an appeal for Waterman in London nearly a year ago. Clearly something about the new appeal made him crack.
 
“To everyone else feeling the stress of being on the run I would say we are patient people, we keep the pressure on, and we never stop looking for you.”