Paul Farrell has been jailed for 23 years
A drug dealer from Greater Manchester who police said 'ran an organised crime group' has been jailed for 23 years after two multi-million pound cocaine smuggling conspiracies were smashed.
Bigovic hid cocaine worth £2m aboard the ship where he worked behind the bar - the Marella Discovery 2 - but was caught when he tried to offload it to Bath, 36, and Paige, 31, who were waiting in an inflatable boat under the ship's hull.As the cruise ship was moored off the Isle of Wight, in the early hours of April 25, 2020, Bigovic dragged a holdall containing the drugs from his cabin to a portside deck, attached a rope to it and lowered the bag down.
The drugs, said the NCA, had been smuggled onto the cruise ship in Cartegena, Colombia, a month earlier. But as the cocaine transfer happened, Border Force officers were watching and moved in to arrest the pair after the inflatable returned to the Albatross.The NCA said its investigators believed the cocaine was originally supposed to be smuggled ashore somewhere in Europe.
Bigovic, of Pozarevac, about 50 miles east of Belgrade, was arrested and admitted importing cocaine. He was jailed for 11 years in 2021.