He was an ‘integral part’ of a drug-smuggling gang that was found with the huge haul inside a van in an East Yorkshire pub car park
A Colombian national who was an “integral part” of a drug-smuggling gang that tried to bring cocaine with a street value of more than £42-million into the UK on a small boat has been jailed. Didier Reyes, 40, is the final member of the group to be sentenced after he was arrested in Lelley, East Yorkshire, in May 2024 by National Crime Agency (NCA) officers.
Reyes, of no fixed address, had spent the night there with two other men who were involved in the conspiracy – Mark Moran, 24, and 25-year-old Daniel Livingstone, both of Argyll and Bute in Scotland. The NCA found drugs weighing 524 kilograms stashed inside a hire van that was parked outside a pub in the village.
Reyes’ role in the operation was to act as a contact with Colombian drug cartels and he flew into the UK to play a key part in the smuggling attempt. Joined by Moran, he sailed a rigid-hulled inflatable boat from Hessle slipway before returning hours later with the haul of drugs on board. It was unloaded at a beach near an Easington caravan park.
Livingstone was waiting for them and had been seen shining a torch out to sea and talking on his mobile phone before they approached. Officers from the NCA saw Moran and Reyes unloading bags from the boat and onto the beach before they were moved into the van which then left the scene.
The clothes Reyes was wearing when he was arrested were so wet that he had to change into a forensic white suit before being taken away. The group had been tracked by NCA officers, who observed Moran and another man buying a VW Touareg with a tow bar in Dewsbury, which they drove to Humber RIBS, in Hull, where they purchased a boat. This was used in an unsuccessful smuggling attempt. Livingstone was also seen filling two large jerry cans with fuel on the same day as the drugs were unloaded onto the beach.
The NCA investigation was supported by Humberside Police, who provided maritime and roads policing assistance, and Border Force who provided maritime advice. NCA Senior Investigating Officer Alan French said: “Reyes was an integral part of this smuggling attempt, acting as a go between with drug cartel bosses in Colombia. Without his input, the cocaine would never have got into Moran and Livingstone’s hands.
“There’s no doubt these drugs would have been sold into communities around the UK, but crucial partnership working between the NCA, Humberside Police and Border Force thwarted the plot and left a huge hole in the pockets of the organised crime groups that would have benefitted.
“We are determined to do all we can to tackle the threat posed by class A drugs and protect the public from the horrendous impact they have on our society.”
Reyes was sentenced to 13-and-a-half years imprisonment at Hull Crown Court today (September 22) after pleading guilty to conspiracy to import cocaine in July last year. Livingstone pleaded guilty to the offence in June last year.
A jury at the same court convicted Moran of the same charge on 28 October last year, following an eight-day trial. A fourth man, also from Argyll and Bute, was cleared by the jury.
On December 23 last year, Moran was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment and Livingstone was jailed for seven years and nine months imprisonment.