{"id":3495,"date":"2024-08-23T20:35:17","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T20:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/?p=3495"},"modified":"2024-08-23T20:35:17","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T20:35:17","slug":"dramatic-chase-uk-officers-pursue-smugglers-with-39m-cocaine-haul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/?p=3495","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Dramatic Chase: UK Officers Pursue Smugglers with \u00a339m Cocaine Haul&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"407\" src=\"https:\/\/uwordpressmedia.blob.core.windows.net\/uwordpressmedia01\/2024\/08\/image_2024-08-23_004725028-696x407-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3496\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwordpressmedia.blob.core.windows.net\/uwordpressmedia01\/2024\/08\/image_2024-08-23_004725028-696x407-1.png 696w, https:\/\/uwordpressmedia.blob.core.windows.net\/uwordpressmedia01\/2024\/08\/image_2024-08-23_004725028-696x407-1-300x175.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the dramatic moment two drug smugglers leapt into the sea in a failed bid to escape the authorities after being caught with \u00a337million of cocaine in their boat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bruce Knowles, 55, and Ferhat Gumrukguoglu, 31, were intercepted by Border Force near East Benacre Broads in Suffolk with 350kg of cocaine in the hull of their boat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Footage released by Britain\u2019s \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/fbi\/index.html\">FBI<\/a>\u2018, the National&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/crime\/index.html\">Crime<\/a>&nbsp;Agency (NCA), shows Dutchman Gumrukguoglu, leap from the vessel and swim towards the beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The pair had initially stopped when the Border Force cutter moved in but Knowles restarted the engines to the rigid hulled inflatable boat and tried to escape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The boat was grounded on the beach and officers moved in to arrest Knowles, after he also jumped overboard during the incident on June 24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Officers from Norfolk and Suffolk Police chased Gumrukguoglu after he fled from the beach, arresting him later that day in Wrentham, Norfolk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The boat was towed to a harbour in Lowestoft where it was searched by NCA officers, who found the \u00a339million narcotics haul hidden under a tarpaulin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Investigators believe Knowles, from Dereham, and Gumrukguoglu, from the Netherlands, travelled towards French waters to pick up the drugs from a larger ship, before bringing them back to the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both men were interviewed and gave no comment, but were subsequently charged with importing a controlled drug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They pleaded guilty to the offence at Ipswich Crown Court on Tuesday and are now facing a prison sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NCA Branch Commander Lydia Bloomfield said: \u2018Knowles and Gumrukguoglu knew they were going to lose a huge quantity of drugs when they were intercepted at sea by our Border Force colleagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018Both were working for a wider organised crime group, who will now feel the effects of a loss of this amount.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is the dramatic moment two drug smugglers leapt into the sea in a failed bid to escape the authorities after being caught with \u00a337million [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3495"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3497,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3495\/revisions\/3497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}