Man told police 'I'm glad it's over' as officers checked his fridge during raid

A businessman told cops "I'm glad it's over" as he was with 750kg of . Former hotel owner Gary Swift and Scott Kilgour were en route back Wales after sailing to Suriname in South America to collect the , which had a purity of 83 per cent and a value of £24million wholesale and at least £60million on the streets.

Swift had been a successful entrepreneur, having been behind a venture to transform a hotel in Chester. He is said to have sold his own home and invested hundreds of thousands to fund the venture. However, he was declared bankrupt in 2010 after the hotel was shuttered. At court, he described himself as a "bankrupt builder" and claims he was "talked into" making the drug run by a customer at his hotel.

However, the National Crime Agency had a different view on Swift, describing him and his co-defendant post-sentencing as "highly organised criminals".

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As part of a weekly series looking back at Merseyside's criminal history, the ECHO has taken a closer look at the plot, which was doomed from the very beginning.

Swift, of Huyton, spoke proudly to his local paper after he bought the Eaton Hotel in Chester. He said he had initially considered a move to the south coast due to his interest in sailing before he decided he wanted to stay local. Swift said when he first invested in the hotel it "was looking a bit tired", but soon after it had "19 rooms with a bar, restaurant, and al fresco dining in the basement" under the trading name Canalside Inn.

At some point after his money struggles began, Swift decided to take on the smuggling venture and enlisted Kilgour to help. In December 2017, some 18 months before the eventual seizure, Kilgour was rumbled when he performed a dummy run, which ended in embarrassment.

Faced with difficult sailing conditions, he needed rescuing and was towed into Fishguard harbour for repairs, an incident that vitally alerted suspicious authorities. But undeterred by this setback, Swift and Kilgour bought a yacht for €50,000 from a seller in Mallorca in December 2018, Spain, and set to work concocting their audacious plan.

But the earlier botched reconnaissance mission meant Border Force employees had started to watch the Scouse pair, putting them under close surveillance. So when they arrived in Pembrokeshire, after travelling more than 7,000km across the Atlantic, the authorities on board cutter HMC Protector swooped in and put the yacht on lockdown on August 27, 2019.

Officers who boarded the vessel carried out a "deep rummage" at Fishguard Harbour until they found the illegal haul. Upon arrest, Swift said to officers: "I just want to say that I am guilty. I have got something substantial on the boat and they will find it." However, before his arrest, Swift threw his phone into the sea. Drivers later recovered it from the sea bed to carry out further examinations.

He later admitted "I’m the bad one here," and asked custody officers to pass a message to the NCA revealing the number of packages on board the yacht. The court heard the drugs were packed into every available storage space on board, including the fridge. The footage, released to the ECHO by the NCA, showed officers clad in forensic white suits recovering the weighty packages.

Swift was jailed for 19-and-a-half years while Kilgour received a 13-and-a-half years sentence in January 2020. Both were told they will serve half of the sentence. Judge Paul Thomas KC told Swift he was "the driving force behind a complex operation" and added to Kilgour: "This enterprise wouldn't have worked without your assistance". He told the pair of them: "You took a gamble and lost. Now, you must pay the price."

Speaking after the two men were sentenced, Jayne Lloyd, NCA regional head of investigations, said: "Today’s result shows what will happen if you try to flood our streets with millions of pounds worth of potentially deadly drugs - you will be caught and you will face the consequences. Drugs aren’t just damaging to the people that take them, they fuel violence and exploitation, damaging communities and leaving destruction in their wake.

"It’s thanks to the work of the NCA, Border Force officers, and the Spanish National Police, that two highly organised criminals are behind bars and that these drugs haven’t made their way onto the streets."

The ECHO revealed Swift had previously flown to Suriname via Amsterdam in March 2019. While in the former Dutch colony he messaged friends back in Merseyside talking about a house he was planning to buy there, and discussing where he should put the swimming pool. A source who knew Swift added: "This was his last big job and he planned to start a new life over there after this on haul. But it was not to be."

During a proceeds of crime hearing in July 2021, Swift received a confiscation order worth £328,071. The NCA seized the SY Atrevido along with a second sailing yacht, the SY Mistral, which were both suspected to have been used by the gang. Three Rolex watches, a Panerai watch, and a Tag Heuer watch were also found.

Investigators have obtained court orders to restrain a third sailing yacht, caravans, five cars, two vans, and a house in France. Kilgour was also subject to a proceeds-of-crime hearing, where it emerged he had assets worth £4.07. NCA regional head of investigations Mark Spoors said: "To compound the misery of spending years behind bars, Swift has now been stripped of his illicit wealth, which he has accrued through his criminality."

The ECHO also revealed in 2022 that the NCA seized the Nori - a yacht moored in Albert Dock that previously belonged to Swift. The 50ft yacht features a kitchen and dining area, sleeping quarters, and a bathroom. The same source told the ECHO Swift had been living on the boat before her arrest. She added: "Gary must have been fairly good with yachts because he managed to sail across the Atlantic twice."