‘Greed and stupidity’: How a yachtie’s role in deadly drug plot went horribly wrong
Queensland superyacht operator James Blee’s company was hit hard by Covid-19. So he took a $300,000 gamble.
When James Blake Blee was offered $300,000 to smuggle two Brazilian divers into the country, he says he did so out of “greed and stupidity”.
The Queensland superyacht operator had been hit hard by the impacts of Covid-19 and had received no income in 2021.
He knew it was “dodgy work” and that it “had to” involve drug importation, but took the money out of desperation.
“It was all gonna be smooth,” he told police after being arrested.
Instead, the operation went horribly wrong.
The 64-year-old was sentenced on Tuesday to at least seven years and six months in prison for his role in a multimillion-dollar cocaine importation into Australia in May 2022.
The original plan was for the Brazilian divers to retrieve 108 kilograms which had been smuggled into the country, magnetised to the hull of a container ship which had entered the port of Newcastle.
One of the divers – 31-year-old Bruno Borges-Martins – died during the operation and was found floating in Newcastle harbour along with 54 kilograms of cocaine.
Police say the other diver Jhoni Fernandes Da Silva, 32, retrieved the other half of the drugs however his location remains unknown. Detectives believe his portion of the import has since made its way into the community and say detectives are continuing to work to bring closure to his family.
On Tuesday, Blee was charged for his role in bringing the divers into the country illegally via Darwin, before purchasing diving equipment for the duo.
In court documents obtained by news.com.au, Blee explained how the Brazilian divers were unfamiliar with the “rebreathers” – which do not make bubbles – leading to the man’s death.
Blee told police he took the men to practise using the machines before the operation at a nearby beach.
He said that when he took the job, he was told he was going to be assisting “two skilled rebreather operators who had done this before”, however quickly realised that was not the case.
He said a major reason the plan was foiled was due to the fact that the Brazilian’s did not speak “a word of English” and were being instructed by a “South American team” via an encryption app.
“The Divers (Da Silva and Martins) did not speak a word of English … and that is why the operation went so bad on so many levels … we would sit there, with their phone, with a Portuguese to English translator,” he told police.
He also said the operation would have been successful if it wasn’t for Mr Martins’s death.
“If that kid hadn’t have died, we wouldn’t be here,” court documents revealed Blee told police.
“Nobody would’ve known what’s going on … it was a fairly sophisticated, efficient way to what they’re doing.”
During sentencing on Tuesday, Judge Troy Anderson said there was no suggestion Blee sourced the drugs or put them onto the vessel however led, co-ordinated and facilitated the recovery of the drugs.
Judge Anderson said Blee’s actions were “a sad misconceived gamble” after his business was impacted by the pandemic.
Blee was sentenced to a maximum of 11 years and three months, with a non-parole period of seven years and three months after pleading guilty to importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug, people smuggling and dealing with property or money intending that it become an instrument of crime.
The sentencing was backdated to when Blee first went into custody. He will be eligible for parole in November 2029.
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