NCA officers arrest second man over £10m Newhaven cocaine seizure

30 Mar 2020 05:12 PM

National Crime Agency officers have arrested a man on the Isle of Wight as part of an investigation into a seizure of almost 100 kilos of cocaine at Newhaven port in East Sussex last November.

The 43-year-old was detained on suspicion of conspiring to import class a drugs at an address in Ashley Road, Ryde, recently (Sunday 29 March), in an operation supported by Hampshire Police.

He was questioned by NCA investigators before being bailed pending further enquiries.

The investigation follows a seizure made at Newhaven in the early hours of 23 November last year.

Border Force officers recovered 97 packages each containing approximately a kilo of cocaine from the back of a van carrying frozen fish. The drugs had an estimated potential value of around £10 million. 

The driver, 50-year-old James Satterley from Cookham in Maidenhead, was later charged with importing class A drugs. He now awaits trial.

NCA branch operations manager Martin Matthews yesterday said:

“Our investigation into this importation continues.

“Working with partners like Border Force and policing we are determined to do all we can to disrupt the organised crime groups involved in the large-scale importation of class A drugs.”