Leader of €440m cocaine plot jailed for 20 years

The leader of a €440m transatlantic cocaine trafficking plot which failed because of a fuel mix-up has been jailed for 20 years.

Stephen Dennis Brown, aged 45, pleaded guilty to the smuggling operation, which fell apart at sea during a botched handover off Dunlough Bay, near Mizen Head, Co Cork.

In 2007, a gang of career criminals had conspired to bring 62 bales of high- grade cocaine on ocean- going catamaran Lucky Day from Barbados to waters off West Cork.