Four men have been jailed for more than 33 years between them after being caught trying to smuggle four-tonnes of cannabis into Britain on a yacht.

The yacht, a 50-footer called Majestic, was spotted off Falmouth by the UK Border Agency in July and tracked along the South Coast. It is believed to have originally departed from North Africa.

It was intercepted off the Isle of Wight by two Border Agency cutters and escorted into Newhaven, where the drugs, worth an estimated £12 million, were discovered in a specially-adapted locker (pictured above).

Three crew members were each sentenced to nine and a half years imprisonment with a fourth sentenced to five years at Lewes Crown Court for possessing a class-B drug on board a ship.

Malcolm Bragg, assistant director of the UK Border Agency‘s criminal and financial investigation team, said: ‘The use of Majestic shows how smugglers will try to pass themselves off as innocent boaters in order to sneak past our controls.

‘That’s why we work closely with members of the boating community to help identify potential risks and safeguard the UK from the harmful trade in illegal goods.’

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Picture courtesy of the UK Border Agency.