Watch: Drug smugglers with £39m of cocaine jump into water in Border Force chase

Bruce Knowles and Ferhat Gumrukguoglu plead guilty to importing a controlled drug after getting caught by officers on boat

Two drug smugglers jumped into the water in a bid to avoid being caught with £39 million of cocaine after they were chased by Border Force officers.
Bruce Knowles, 55, and Ferhat Gumrukguoglu, 31, were intercepted by officials near East Benacre Broads in Suffolk with 350kg of cocaine in the hull of their boat.
Investigators believe Knowles, from Dereham, and Gumrukguoglu, from the Netherlands, travelled towards French waters to pick up the drugs from a larger ship, before bringing them back to the UK.
Footage released by the National Crime Agency (NCA) shows Gumrukguoglu leap from the vessel and swim towards the beach.
The pair had initially stopped when the Border Force cutter moved in but Knowles restarted the engines of the rigid-hulled inflatable boat and tried to flee.
The boat was grounded on the beach and officers moved in to arrest Knowles, after he also jumped overboard in a bid to escape during the incident on June 24.
Officers from Norfolk and Suffolk Police pursued Gumrukguoglu after he fled from the beach, arresting him later that day in Wrentham, Norfolk.
The boat was towed to a harbour in Lowestoft where it was searched by NCA officers, who found the haul of £39 million in drugs hidden under tarpaulin.
Both men were interviewed and gave no comment, but were subsequently charged with importing a controlled drug.
They pleaded guilty to the offence at Ipswich Crown Court on Tuesday and will be sentenced later this year.
Lydia Bloomfield, the NCA branch commander, said: “Knowles and Gumrukguoglu knew they were going to lose a huge quantity of drugs when they were intercepted at sea by our Border Force colleagues.
“Both were working for a wider organised crime group, who will now feel the effects of a loss of this amount.”
Sally Hawkyard, the Border Force deputy director, said: “Our Border Force officers played a pivotal role in detecting and seizing millions of pounds worth of cocaine, which ensured that these two men were brought to justice.
“We remain committed to stopping illegal drugs from entering the country, where they ruin lives and fuel organised criminal gangs.
“Border Force will continue to work tirelessly to keep the public safe and our borders secure.”