The jury heard that in late 2006 Stromberg and Clough travelled to Venezuela where Clough purchased a speedboat, the 'Samantha', on Margarita Island with the intention of shipping it by container to Portugal. However, in February 2007 the Venezuelan authorities examined the boat by x-ray in a warehouse in Puerto Cabello, from where it was to be shipped to Europe. This revealed 300 blocks concealed skilfully within the fibreglass hull of the vessel and in total 337 kilograms of cocaine were beneath the area of the fuel tank.
Alison Saunders, Director of the CPS Organised Crime Division said: 'The charge of conspiracy to commit an offence outside the United Kingdom is rarely used in this country in other than terrorism cases and reflected an innovative approach on the part of the CPS Organised Crime Division to this type of criminality. It reflected the actions of the defendants in conspiring in the United Kingdom to commit to a course of conduct in a foreign country which would be an offence in both jurisdictions.
'Organised crime knows no borders and we are increasingly working with partners both here and abroad to ensure that we are in a position to tackle it. If this means travelling to other parts of the world to obtain assistance or utilising the tools at our disposal in innovative ways, then we will to reduce the harm caused by organised crime.
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