Three men who claimed to have been selling a Rigid Hulled Inflatable Boat (RHIB), but were actually collecting cocaine worth £26.5 million from a ship off the coast of Somerset, have been sentenced following a National Crime Agency investigation.
Craig Nuttall, 51, and his brother Raymond Nuttall, 47, both from Preston, arrived at Watchet Marina in Somerset on 23 July 2025.
The pair provided details of a RHIB named “Guzzla” and told the marina manager that they had planned to be in the area for a few days to fish.
On the evening of 30 July, they were joined by Greek national Anestis Tsepa, 24, from Thessalonika, and 38-year-old Albanian national Melios Delvina.
Raymond Nuttall was seen to drive a van down the quayside before removing two jerry cans and a hose from the rear. By 20.46, Craig Nuttall, Tsepa and Delvina were in the RHIB wearing lifejackets and heading out to sea.
Audio messages later discovered on Tsepa’s device showed that they took the boat out to sea and were organising an at sea drop off (ASDO), where a larger vessel, otherwise known as a mother ship, is believed to have dropped illegal drugs into the sea and was to be collected by a smaller boat.
In the background of the messages, the Guzzla’s engine can be heard as they travel, discussing how long it will take their smaller, daughter vessel to arrive, clarifying which mother vessel they should follow and that they were now ready, waiting for that larger vessel to give a signal.
They returned to the marina at 1am and began to try to connect the boat to a trailer that Raymond Nuttall had driven down the slipway.
However, NCA officers then stepped in and arrested the four men on suspicion of importation of Class A drugs.
The Guzzla was searched and found to contain a large number of bale-sized packages that had been stored along the floor and between the seats. There were 14 packages in total, containing a further 322 smaller packages weighing a kilo each.
The substance inside was tested and found to be cocaine with an 89% purity. The drugs would be worth £26.5 million at street level. A firearm was also discovered in the boat.
The Nuttalls and Tsepa provided no comment responses to NCA officers in interview. Delvina gave a prepared statement in which he said he was unemployed and took work to unload items from a boat into a van with no knowledge of the drugs inside.
The Nuttalls pleaded guilty to importation of cocaine at Taunton Crown Court on 29 August, with Tsepa and Delvina admitting the same charges on 5 September. Tsepa also pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Raymond Nuttall, Craig Nuttall were sentenced to 11-years-and-three-months and 11-years-and-two-months respectively, while Anestis Tsepa was given a 16-year jail term at the same court today.
Melios Delvina is due to be sentenced on 11 December.
NCA Regional Head of Investigations Gavin Webb said: said: “These men were working as part of an organised crime group, using the cover of darkness to collect a significant amount of cocaine that would have ended up on the streets of the UK.
“They were fuelled by greed – if their attempt had been successful it would have netted them millions of pounds in profit. The presence of a firearm in the boat shows the levels they were willing to go to with their offending.
“The NCA is confronting and dealing with at-sea drugs drop-offs as a priority to ensure illegal drugs do not make it to UK shores. Dedicated Officers from the NCA were aided by, and are grateful for the vital support of, our partners in Border Force, the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit, Avon and Somerset Police and Devon and Cornwall Police. These criminals are now behind bars.”
The court imposed reporting restrictions on the naming of two men who were charged in relation to the same seizure on 6 November this year.
