Convict details alleged offshore cocaine retrieval operation off South Africa's coast.
The State has secured a conviction against a man involved in a sophisticated cocaine smuggling operation after he revealed how a drug shipment was allegedly dropped from a passing vessel in international waters off the Southern Cape coast before being retrieved by a waiting crew.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) welcomed the sentencing of 52-year-old Alan Bushby, who was handed an effective 10-year direct imprisonment sentence after pleading guilty to dealing in 400.84 kilograms of cocaine.
The Western Cape High Court in Cape Town sentenced Bushby to 15 years' imprisonment, with five years suspended for five years on condition that he is not convicted of similar drug offences during the suspension period.
His conviction stems from a July 2024 operation in which a large cocaine shipment was allegedly dropped into the ocean off Stil Bay and later recovered by a group travelling aboard a rubber duck.
