Marine expert witness - Drug smuggling

Abbira

In 2008 a tug called 'Abbira' sailed into Southampton with more than 50,000 bars of cannabis resin on board worth £36m.

When the customs officers boarded the vessel they found the drugs packed inside water and ballast tanks and this was to be one of the largest ever cannabis smuggling attempts in the UK. 

The Abbira sailed from the Spanish port of Ceuta close to Morocco and from there to waters just off Morocco near Larache where it is thought the drugs were loaded onto the vessel.  At the time the drugs were thought to have been loaded there were 6 crew members on board.  The Abbira then made it way to Southampton and berthed on the Itchen River in April 2008. 

Maritime Services (International) Ltd were engaged to act in the defence of the Captain of the vessel.  The case was heard at Winchester Crown Court where of those who went on trial, all but two were found guilty.

As part of the defence, MSI carried out a review of the navigational route taken by the tug, calculated the effect of the weight difference between the cannabis resin and the displaced water, evaluated the impact of the weight changes on the tug's stability, estimated a time to load the cannabis bales whilst at sea and prepared a video showing the degree of difficulty of loading the cannabis bales into the water tanks.  One of MSI's surveyors attended Winchester Crown Court over a four day period to give Expert Testimony.