Alfred Kola and Juan Londono-Gomez jailed for plot to import $18m cocaine from Panama

Two men accused of an $18m cocaine importation scheme have learned their fates after a court heard how their big plans came hopelessly undone.

Two men involved in a plot to import an $18 million boat load of “destructive” cocaine from Panama – only for the plan to come unstuck when a courier got drunk – have been jailed but one is already eligible for parole.

Adelaide man Alfred Kola, 53, of and Juan Daniel Londono-Gomez, 40, of Byron Bay were among a group of men in Australia and South America who spent three months in 2014 plotting the importation of as much as 75kg of cocaine, worth an estimated $18 million at the time.

Londono-Gomez pleaded guilty just prior to trial to a charge of importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, while Kola was found guilty of the same offence at trial. Another man, Ibrahim Yavuz, had earlier pleaded guilty and was jailed for nine and a half years in 2020.

At trial, the court had heard the plan fell apart when a young Australian man, who was to be paid $250,000 to accompany the shipment and ensure the captain did not use any of the drug, got drunk and blabbed about the plan.

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

His loud mouth caused an irreparable rift with the captain, who he had been helping to fix the leaky boat before setting sail, and the plan was abandoned.

In sentencing Judge Liesl Kudelka said the court must impose “significant sentences” to “deter others who are motivated by the thought of very large profit to become involved in these sorts of criminal enterprises”.

“The sentence must signal to the would-be traffickers and importers that the potential financial rewards to be gained are neutralised by the risk of severe punishment.

“The distribution of illicit drugs, including cocaine, into the community is destructive.”

Juan Londono-Gomez. Picture: Courts SA.

She said Kola had a “greater role” in the operation than Yavuz and that the pair would have received “considerable financial benefit” had the plan worked.

Judge Kudelka said Londono-Gomez’s role, as a translator was “essential” but “not at the level of the people making decisions” and that he was to receive less financial benefit than Kola and Yavuz.

She said at the time, he had been informed his father was dying by people in his native Colombia and needed to borrow money for a plane ticket to return to see his family in Medellin, the one-time cocaine capital of the world.

“I do think you got involved in this at a very vulnerable time in your life and there were pressures put on you from Colombia that a lot of people in Australia, fortunately, may never experience,” she said.

She said he had no criminal history and had “gone a long way to rehabilitating” between the offending in 2014 and his arrest in 2019, and while in custody.

After a discount for his plea, Judge Kudelka jailed Londono-Gomez for seven years and six week. She set a non-parole period of four years, making him now eligible for parole.

She jailed Kola, who was already serving a lengthy term of imprisonment for other drug offences from 2014, for 13 years.

She net a non-parole period of seven years. His sentence will not begin until July 2026, when the non-parole period for his other drug offending expires.