A British man, named Jason Waterman, is believed to have swam to Gibraltar after seeing himself on a Crimewatch appeal that day.
The Watford-born man is said to have been in connection with a £1.2 million cocaine inquiry, and turned up to the British Defence Police in Gibraltar dripping wet to turn himself in. When asked how he arrived in Gibraltar, he only said that it wasn’t through the frontier.
The 32-year-old, nicknamed “Jugs” or “Jumbo,” is believed to have swam from the area of La Linea, around a busy shipping area, in order to avoid border guards on land.
The fugitive was accused of being involved with importing cocaine to the U.K. from Holland back in October 2015. A plane apparently arrived around the Bagby airfield, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, and Jason Waterman was seen running from the scene. A briefcase was found once the plane landed, containing seven kilos of cocaine.
The NCA (National Crime Agency) are now looking to arrest him under the European Arrest Warrant. If the drug crime had succeeded and was sold in the U.K., it would have had a street value in excess of £1 million.
The NCA are now determined to prevent smaller airfields being used by criminals, and have already stopped a “sizeable” amount of cocaine getting onto the streets of the U.K.