- James Blake Blee sentenced
- Took a ‘calculated risk and failed spectacularly’
A superyacht tour operator has been jailed for more than 11 years over a bungled cocaine importation worth millions of dollars that turned deadly after it “failed spectacularly”.
James Blake Blee, 64, appeared in the New South Wales District Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to smuggling and importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug.
The court heard he was approached by someone in Indonesia who offered him large sums of money to get involved in what Blee described as a “nefarious” scheme.
He agreed and smuggled Brazilian nationals Bruno Borges Martins and Jhoni Fernandes Da Silva on his ship from Indonesia to a port in Darwin in April 2022.
The court heard that Blee was offered $300,000 for his role in importing up to 70kg of cocaine, but did not know what border-controlled drug the package contained or in what quantity.
Judge Troy Anderson said Blee’s diving and navigation skills meant he had a “relatively unique skill set which certainly justified in the syndicate’s mind his high price tag”.
The court heard he was only paid $200,000, part of which was spent coordinating and facilitating the collection of the drug packages.
James Blake Blee has been convicted of people smuggling into Australia to facilitate the importation of cocaine.
He will not be eligible for parole until 2029
Blee trained the two divers and equipped them with diving equipment so they could dive into Newcastle Harbor to recover dozens of bricks of cocaine hidden underwater in the hull of a container ship.
On May 9, Mr. Martins’ body was found floating in the harbor surrounded by 42 packages of illicit drugs and with his diving mask still on. Da Silva disappeared and is presumed dead.
Blee was arrested at Cairns airport two days later as he prepared to board a flight to Singapore.
Judge Anderson said financial difficulties had motivated him to take “a calculated risk, which turned out to backfire spectacularly”.
James Blake Blee is pictured being questioned by detectives at Mascot Police Station in 2022.
“I accept that the behavior is an aberration,” he said.
“I was not motivated by greed but by a sad, misguided and desperate financial gamble.”
He sentenced Blee to 11 years and three months behind bars, a sentence retroactive until he was arrested in 2022.
Taking into account time served, Blee will spend five more years in custody before being eligible for parole in 2029.