Man admits botched Makayabella cocaine plot

A pensioner who skippered a yacht across the Atlantic in a £150m cocaine smuggling plot has pleaded guilty to his part in the botched plot.

John Powell, 70, of Silsden, West Yorkshire in England, entered a plea of guilty to two charges ahead of an expected trial at Cork Circuit Court.

He is to be sentenced later today at the same court along with Benjamin Mellor, 35, of Bradford, West Yorkshire, and Thomas Britteon, 28, of Grimsby, north-east Lincolnshire.

All three were arrested on board the luxury yacht Makayabella, which was found last September in poor condition in the Atlantic Ocean, 322km off the south-west coast of Ireland.

Investigators in the UK also seized a 7.6m motor boat called Sea Breeze, moored in Pwllheli, North Wales in connection with the smuggling ring.

Judge Sean O Donnabhain adjourned the sentencing until later.