Two cocaine smugglers who jumped overboard after Border Force officers intercepted their boat carrying drugs worth £39m have been jailed.

Bruce Knowles, 56, from Dereham and Ferhat Gumrukguoglu, 32, from the Netherlands, were spotted on a rigid-hulled inflatable boat near East Benacre Broads in Suffolk in June 2024.

In the footage, Border Force officers order the pair to stop but they ignore the pleas and continue their escape bid.

Gumrukguoglu then leaps into the sea and swims away as Knowles restarts the engines and tries to flee.

After a pursuit, the boat is grounded on the beach but as officers move in to arrest Knowles, he also jumps overboard to try to escape.

Officers from Norfolk and Suffolk Police pursued Gumrukguoglu after he fled from the beach, arresting him later that day in Wrentham, Norfolk.

NCA officers searched the boat after it was towed to a harbour in Lowestoft and found 350kgs of cocaine hidden under tarpaulins in the hull.

Investigators believe Knowles and Gumrukguoglu had travelled towards French waters to pick up the drugs from a larger ship, before bringing them back to the UK.

Both men were charged with importing a controlled drug and pleaded guilty to the offence at Ipswich Crown Court in August 2024.

They were sentenced at the same court on 16 May: Knowles received a prison sentence of 17 years and three months, and Gumrukguoglu was jailed for 15 years.

Paul Orchard, NCA operations manager, said: "This was a fast-moving and dynamic interception of two men attempting to smuggle in a huge quantity of Class A drugs.

"Knowles and Gumrukguoglu continued to try and evade arrest to avoid a significant loss for their crime group. They now face long prison sentences.

"Thanks to our partners in Border Force and the Joint Maritime Security Centre, a significant amount of class A drugs have been removed from the criminal marketplace where further criminality and exploitation would have followed.

"The NCA is committed to protecting the public from serious and organised crime and stopping criminals from fuelling the UK drugs trade."

Border Force maritime director Charlie Eastaugh said: "During this pursuit, maritime officers bravely intercepted these criminals and seized 350kgs of cocaine, ensuring those who threatened our border security are now facing the full force of the law."