Alfred Kola, Ibrahim Yavuz and Juan Londono-Gomez conspired to import cocaine from Panama

A plan to import a boatload of cocaine to Australia fell apart when a courier promised $250,000 arrived in Panama to discover a leaky boat and got drunk

In a travel agent’s office in Adelaide’s north three men finessed their plans for the youngest of the trio to travel to South America.

One of the men placed a finger on a map and traced a line across the seas from Panama to Australia.

It is a route the men hoped a boat carrying a “significant” load of cocaine would sail successfully to Australia to set them up for life.

But their plan came unstuck when the youngest man – who had been promised $250,000 to sail back to Australia with the cocaine – arrived in Panama to discover a leaky boat and then got drunk and blabbed about the plan.

The youngest man, who was to be the courier, cannot be identified after he gave evidence against one of the plan’s conspirators, Alfred Kola, during a District Court trial.

The jury last month found Kola, 52, of Mawson Lakes guilty of a charge of conspiring to import a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug.

The courier (left), Ibrahim Yavuz (centre) and Alfred Kola (right) after leaving Flight Centre at Mawson Lakes in May 2014 after purchasing the courier flights to Panama. Picture: Courts SA.

The jury heard he had conspired with Ibrahim Halil Yavuz, 35, of Paralowie and Juan Daniel Londono-Gomez, 40, (who are charged with the same offences as Kola), along with other, uncharged men, to import an unidentified but considerable amount of cocaine – potentially worth millions of dollars – into Australia in 2014.

Kola, Yavuz and the courier, under the watchful eye of authorities, were photographed leaving a Flight Centre office at Mawson Lakes about 5pm on May 16, 2014 after paying $3410.05 in cash for the courier’s flights to Panama.

Carrying only a blue backpack with some clothes, the courier, then aged 23, flew to Panama via Sydney and Los Angeles, arriving three days later.

Before he left, he was provided with a phone containing text messages from a fake woman as a ruse for authorities in case he was questioned. He was told to explain he was travelling to meet a girl.

On arrival in Panama the courier met Londono-Gomez, a Colombian who the men referred to as Mono. Londono-Gomez had flown to Adelaide to meet Kola and Yavuz about six weeks earlier to arrange the shipment.

Once in Panama the courtier also met a man named Marco – who was to be the boat’s captain – and was taken to see the boat they were to sail to Australia in.

“It was in terrible condition,” the courier told the jury.

“Pretty much it was full of water up to my knees.”

They emptied the water using buckets and spent weeks repairing the boat.

The captain, known only as Marco. Picture: Courts SA

Juan Londono-Gomez. Picture: Courts SA.

The courier was given $3000 for repairs “because they didn’t trust the captain because he was a heavy cocaine user” and was told his role was “to make sure that Marco didn’t really take any of (the cocaine)”.

The courier has also been given a piece of paper containing codes – a series of co-ordinates for where to meet another boat out at sea to collect the cocaine before continuing on toward Australia.

Once the boat was repaired, the courier, Marco, his girlfriend, Marco’s uncle and a man with dreadlocks, took four days to sail the Panama Canal to Panama City. On arrival, they celebrated at a local bar.

“I got pretty drunk where I can’t remember,” the courier told the court.

The following morning the courier woke to find Marco yelling at him.

“(I) may have told the others the plan,” he told the jury.

“They told Marco that I was talking crazy, that’s why he was angry.”

The courier told the court he was unable to recall what he had told the others, but said it was “probably everything”.

The courier explained the operation “wasn’t really going to plan” so it was stopped. The court also heard Marco had thereafter “refused” to sail the courier, causing the operation to fall apart.

The courier was flown back to Australia about a week later and was arrested at Adelaide Airport for breaching his bail on unrelated charges.

The court heard the men must have planned to import a significant amount of cocaine – although it is unknown exactly how much – at a time when cocaine fetched between $180,000 to $240,000 a kilogram in the eastern states.

Kola and Londono-Gomez are expected to hear sentencing submissions in the District Court this week. Yavuz had earlier pleaded guilty and was jailed for nine years for his role in the conspiracy. It is not known what happened to Marco, or any of the other men allegedly involved in the conspiracy in Panama and Colombia.

The courier has not faced charges in relation to this operation.