Three men from Liverpool have been jailed for a combined 28 years for conspiring to smuggle cocaine with a street value of more than £40,000.

Stephen Graham Ferguson (40), David John Morgan (42), and David John Saunders (44) have each been sentenced to nine years and four months behind bars.

The trio pleaded guilty to conspiring to supply cocaine, with a street value of up to £41,160, and money laundering offences.

They were first arrested in 2020 after trying to smuggle the Class A drug into the island via the airport.

Drugs and cash worth tens of thousands of pounds were seized by Jersey Police

They were released pending further investigations, which included looking at messages between the men and other associates.

Ferguson and Saunders were arrested again in 2021 and subsequently charged. Morgan was arrested in the UK and brought back to Jersey a short time later.

"The sentences today are the culmination of what has been a very lengthy and complex investigation into a Liverpool-based syndicate, who were targeting Jersey to traffic Class A drugs. 

JCIS officers have worked painstakingly and diligently to ensure that the men, who were facilitating multiple importations of commercial quantities of cocaine into Jersey, have been caught and have faced justice.

The smuggling of drugs and the laundering of the proceeds of crime remain a high priority of the Customs & Immigration Service, and one which we will continue to work hard to combat." - Rhiannon Small, Senior Manager at the Jersey Customs and Immigration Service.

Anyone with information about drug smuggling can report it anonymously on 0800 735 5555.