The assets of a Liverpool criminal who was ordered to pay a confiscation order worth £328,071 are now being sold off by the authorities.
Gary Swift and Scott Kilgour were jailed for a total of 33 years after they tried to smuggle 751 kilos of cocaine from South America to the Welsh coast.
The drugs found on board the SY Atrevido had a wholesale value of around £24 million with a potential street value of £60 million.
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During a proceeds of crime hearing at Swansea Crown court in July Swift received a confiscation order worth £328,071.
The NCA seized the SY Atrevido, a second sailing yacht, the SY Mistral, as well as three Rolex watches, a Panerai watch, and Tag Heuer watch with a combined value of around £7,000.
Investigators also obtained court orders to seize caravans, five cars, two vans and a house in France.
Swift's assets are now in the process of being sold by the National Crime Agency to settle the £328,071 confiscation order.
Swift, from the Huyton area, is the former owner of a hotel in Chester. The business venture failed and Swift was declared bankrupt in 2010.
Last year Swift and Kilgour, both of Bedford Close, were jailed for 19 years six months, and 13 years six months respectively, after pleading guilty to importing Class A drugs into the UK.
This followed the seizure of 751 kilos of cocaine from the yacht SY Atrevido, which was intercepted by Border Force cutter HMC Protector around half a mile off the coast of Wales in the early hours of August 27, 2019.
The vessel, which had sailed from South America, was escorted into Fishguard port where National Crime Agency (NCA officers) and Border Force’s Deep Rummage team conducted a search. The drugs were found in all parts of the vessel.
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.”
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.
Earlier this week Kilgour was subject to a Proceeds of Crime hearing at Swansea Crown Court when it emerged that he had assets worth £4.07. Prosecutors told Kilgour that the state would seek money from him if his financial situation improved in the future.
NCA Regional Head of Investigations (North) 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.
“This shows the full extent of the tools at our disposal to pursue serious and organised criminals, denying them the profit of their crimes.”
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