Aberdeenshire man convicted in £40 million cocaine smuggling plot after sea drop off southern England
A man from Aberdeenshire has been convicted over a brazen attempt to recover nearly 500 kilograms of cocaine dropped into the sea off southern England.
A man from Aberdeenshire has been convicted over a brazen attempt to recover nearly 500 kilograms of cocaine dropped into the sea off southern England. David Paterson, an oil rig worker from Peterhead, was among 11 people found guilty in a plot tied to drugs worth about £40 million.
Paterson was sent out from Haslar Marina in Portsmouth in the early hours of August 17, 2024, to collect the consignment after it had been dumped into international waters from a container ship. The plan was simple on paper. Find the packages. Lift them from the sea. Get back to shore before anyone noticed. It did not go that way.
Sea drop gone wrong
The cocaine had been split into waterproof bundles, each fitted with a tracker. Investigators believe it was dropped roughly 40 nautical miles south of the Needles, off the west of the Isle of Wight. From there, Paterson and two other men were meant to trace the trackers and fish the packages out using a rigid-hulled inflatable boat, the Amma Sigga.
One of the men with Paterson was acquitted at trial. Another cannot be named for legal reasons. The group had set out expecting the trackers to lead them straight to the cargo. Instead, the container ship sailed past while Paterson was taking part in the operation, and the plan started to unravel.
The case offers a sharp look at how modern drug gangs mix old smuggling methods with simple technology. GPS trackers, waterproof wrapping and fast boats are now part of the trade. They can also fail. When they do, the consequences ripple across borders, from container ports to coastal waters and criminal networks far inland.
A plot built on speed and coordination
According to the facts presented, the drugs had first been dropped into the water by an accomplice crew aboard the container ship. Paterson’s role was to retrieve them once they were in position. That meant timing, navigation and radio silence mattered. So did the weather, the sea state and the accuracy of the trackers. One bad reading was enough to turn a controlled handoff into a chase in open water.
The scheme also shows how organised crime can reach well beyond the usual street-level image of drug dealing. A container vessel, a marina departure before dawn, a high-speed inflatable boat and a load of cocaine valued in the tens of millions. The chain stretched across maritime routes and criminal contacts, with the final shipment intended for sale to other crime groups across the country.
Paterson’s conviction adds another name to a case that already spans 11 defendants. It also underlines how authorities continue to confront cocaine trafficking that uses the sea as a temporary hiding place. The water may seem like cover. In practice, it can become a trail.
The case now moves toward the next stage in the court process for those convicted, while the wider investigation has exposed just how far traffickers will go to move a bulk cocaine load into the UK market.
