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A speedboat stuffed with $51 million worth of cocaine was abandoned in a dramatic North Sea pursuit, a seaside chase that ended with two narcos jumping overboard and trying to swim to freedom. Let me tell you about it. The Mob Reporter here with news of a doomed importation attempt by a British man and his Dutch co-conspirator, who were close — so very close — to a huge payday. Their escape failed, and now they're looking at prison time. It was a valiant effort; I’ll give them that. But this pair’s high-speed getaway didn’t stand much of a chance once their power boat stuffed with cocaine was spotted by British authorities off the coast of England. A UK Border Force cutter spotted a suspicious rigid hulled inflatable boat, known as a RIB for short, off the coast of Suffolk, where England’s east coast runs into the North Sea. This was in late June 2024. Police believe it travelled out to French waters to pick up cocaine from a larger ship, before returning to English shores. As the cutter approached, the pair kept going, ignoring orders to cut their engine. Border agents gave chase in a RHIB of their own. After feigning to stop, the pilot gunned his six-cylinder, 225 horsepower engine and steered close to shore so his buddy could jump overboard. He got so close to shore, though, that he ran his boat aground and then he too jumped overboard — because he knows what’s underneath the tarp that covers his deck: 350 kilos of cocaine. The National Crime Agency, Britain’s version of the FBI, gave the load a UK street value of £39 million, that’s more than $51 million US dollars. Both men were arrested. The pilot was Bruce Knowles, 55, from Dereham, Norfolk. His buddy, who had his face covered when the border agents moved in, was Ferhat Gumrukguoglu, 31, of the Netherlands. Both men refused to talk to police and were charged with importing a controlled drug. On August 20, 2024, they pleaded guilty. They have not yet been sentenced. In 2020, police raided a cannabis grow operation that belong to Knowles. He was sentenced to three and half years. I’m pretty sure the first guy who bailed is an MMA fighter, mixed martial arts, originally from Turkey who moved to the Netherlands. He did kickboxing. Please tap the Thanks button to send me a tip. And give this video a like and a comment to juice the algorithm. That helps me a lot. And make sure you’re subscribed to The Mob Reporter and set you notifications to all. CREDITS: Music is Drag Race by TrackTribe; Map animations were created using Google Earth Studio; Boxing footage to help identify the suspect is of Sergei Morari vs Ferhat Gumrukcouglu at KOK in Tallinn, Estonia, on 17 October 2015, from @conscriptlover; and the interview that shows his face most clearly is from ,clip-2682099 Ipswich Crown Court photos by Oxymoron, CC BY-SA 2.0, and Blammermouth, Public Domain, ~ The Mob Reporter is a professional journalist bringing you real-life mob, police and true crime news, investigative journalism and educational videos. ~ PLEASE SUBSCRIBE: ~ Please subscribe to my other channels: • Crime Watch: • Crime in Italy: ~ To read my written journalism: Please like, share, comment and subscribe. Thanks for watching! -~-~~-~~~-~~-~- Please watch: “Genius jewel heist wrecked by sloppy mistakes“: -~-~~-~~~-~~-~-
