3 mainland men who were arrested on suspicion of Class A drug offences after they were rescued by the RNLI over the weekend have been bailed.
It was at around 15:30 on Saturday afternoon that Yarmouth RNLI’s All Weather Lifeboat launched at the request of Solent Coastguard to assist a vessel around 12 miles South of St Catherine’s Point in the English Channel.
The boat was towed to Yarmouth, arriving in darkness at around 20:40. Just 10 minutes later, for reasons unknown, HM Coastguard alerted Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary to a situation.
A 54-year-old man from Gosport, a 40-year-old man from Windsor and a 40-year-old man from Portsmouth were all subsequently arrested, near The Bugle Coaching Inn in Yarmouth, on suspicion of possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply.
The boat was seized and kept under Armed Police guard at Yarmouth Harbour overnight, where Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary’s Marine Support Unit conducted a fingertip search on Sunday morning. No drugs were located on the boat.
The trio have now been bailed until 14th January and the boat is no longer seized.
Investigations are ongoing to establish the full circumstances but Police are not treating the incident as linked to a National Crime Agency investigation into the discovery of millions of pounds worth of cocaine.
Maybe everything was well compartmentalized