View of back of drug smuggler in boat fleeing from Border Force

Two men who tried to swim away from the UK’s Border Force, after an epic (but short) boat chase, have been convicted of importing a controlled drug after a National Crime Agency investigation. The Border Force officers felt the boat was ‘acting suspiciously’.

The men fled from officers on their RIB, which contained an estimated £39 million of cocaine, before they were apprehended.

Footage from the incident, which took place on 24 June 2024, released by the UK’s National Crime Agency shows the mens desperate efforts to get away before they were caught.

“Stop the RIB, stop the RIB now,” an officer shouts. “You’ve been warned.” And then, in a truly delightful moment, adds: “Several times.”

Back of Border Force officer yelling at two men - drug smugglers - on their RHIB before the one in a hat jumps overboard

Bruce Knowles and Ferhat Gumrukguoglu were arrested after their RIB was intercepted near East Benacre Broads in Suffolk.

In the footage, the two men are seen on the RIB as a Border Force cutter moves in and initially fails to stop them. Gumrukguoglu jumps from the vessel and swims towards the beach as Knowles restarts the engines and attempts to flee. Following a short pursuit Knowles also jumps overboard in a bid to escape.

Officers from Norfolk and Suffolk Police pursued Gumrukguoglu after he fled from the beach, arresting him later that day in Wrentham, Norfolk.

The boat was towed to a harbour in Lowestoft where it was searched by NCA officers, who found the haul of drugs, worth an estimated £39 million, hidden under tarpaulin.

Investigators believe Knowles and Gumrukguoglu travelled towards French waters to pick up the drugs from a larger ship, before bringing them back to the UK.

Both men pleaded guilty to the offence at Ipswich Crown Court.

“Knowles and Gumrukguoglu knew they were going to lose a huge quantity of drugs when they were intercepted at sea by our Border Force colleagues,” says branch commander Lydia Bloomfield.

“Both were working for a wider organised crime group, who will now feel the effects of a loss of this amount.

“Thanks to the work of our Border Force and Joint Maritime Security Centre partners, a very significant amount of class A drugs have been removed from the criminal marketplace where they would have fuelled further criminality and exploitation.”

According to Border Force deputy director Sally Hawkyard, the “officers played a pivotal role in detecting and seizing millions of pounds worth of cocaine, which ensured that these two men were brought to justice.

“We remain committed to stopping illegal drugs from entering the country, where they ruin lives and fuel organised criminal gangs.”

Recently, Spain’s customs agency intercepted a suspected drugs ‘narco-submarine’ in the Atlantic, arresting four suspects who deliberately sank their submersible as authorities closed in. Authorities suspected, from the design and size of the semisub, that the boat was carrying a shipment of cocaine from South America. And, in rather astonishing other news, wild sharks caught off the coast of Brazil have tested positive for cocaine. 

All images used in this article are screen shots taken from Border Force and NCA footage.

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