Zegelis’ cargo was second largest seizure in Bermuda

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The $48 million cocaine haul found in the Janis Zegelis case was the second largest in Bermuda’s history.

The trial heard the 166 kilograms of cocaine found on Zegelis’s yacht, the Arturs, was second only to the 586 kilograms discovered on the boat Ocean Voyager in August 2001.

That record drug haul was worth $164.8 million on Bermuda’s streets at the time, and would be worth around $170 million today. The two cases bear remarkable similarities.

The Ocean Voyager case was the subject of sparse reports by Bermuda Police Service at the time.

However, Larry Smith, former head of the drug unit, revealed fresh details yesterday in answer to inquiries from this newspaper.

According to Mr Smith, the hired five-man crew of the Ocean Voyager stumbled across the drugs when they were delivering it from the Caribbean to Europe. They alerted the Bermuda authorities to what they found.

“They had some problems with the toilet, and when they went to check it, a block fell out of the back of the toilet,” explained Mr Smith. “They summoned Customs and told them they were heading into Bermuda. When we searched the yacht there was 586 kilograms of cocaine.”

Mr Smith said the crew members were “completely co-operative” when interviewed by the police and were not arrested.

He explained that the UK Department of Customs and Excise had an interest in the Ocean Voyager and other activities along the same shipping route.

“They asked us for jurisdiction (over the investigation) and we handed it over to them,” he said.

The drugs were sent to the UK, and a British man was eventually charged over the matter. Officers from Bermuda Police Service gave evidence in two trials he faced in London, but both cases resulted in hung juries.

The Ocean Voyager was impounded by the Bermuda Government, and eventually sold at auction.

During his trial, Zegelis claimed that he found himself in a similar situation. He told the jury he was hired by a Russian man — who he declined to name — to sail the Arturs from Trinidad to Latvia.

He said he made the “shocking” discovery of the drugs, along with a gun, when he was trying to repair the bilge pump below decks three days into his voyage.

He told the jury he was too afraid to report the find to anyone or throw the narcotics overboard because the Russian threatened to kill him and his family.

Defence lawyer Mark Pettingill asked the jury to clear Zegelis of charges of importation and possession because he brought the contraband to Bermuda under duress.

However, the jury rejected his urges to clear Zegelis’s name, and found him guilty yesterday of all six charges he faced (see main story.)

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