On 21 June 2000 officers aboard the Customs cutter Searcher spotted the pleasure yacht Red Scorpion sailing just outside British territorial waters in the Fair Isle Gap and grew suspicious of its story of a voyage from Bremerhaven in Germany, though it was Maltese-registered and flying a German flag.[1] With Malta’s permission to board in international waters, officers boarded on 22 June about 120 miles north-east of Aberdeen despite failing light and severe weather, and found what proved to be 8,690.02 kg of cannabis resin packed in 285 hessian bales.[1]
The three Dutch crew were arrested aboard, brought into Aberdeen harbour, and charged by Customs investigators with being knowingly concerned in carrying a controlled drug.[1] Albert Hulst, Arjeh Van Dijk and Christiaan Ekkebus, all resident in the Netherlands, pleaded guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh on 11 December 2000.[1]
Lord Hardie sentenced each man to 14 years on 12 December 2000, commending the Customs officers whose vigilance removed cannabis with a street value of £43 million from the market.[1] Customs said the 8.7-tonne haul was a Scottish record and more than a fifth of Britain’s cannabis seizures that year, crediting the Scottish Drugs Enforcement Agency and Grampian police as well as the cutter crew.[1]
