Gambling debts drove Portuguese national into cocaine smuggling plot
Facing mounting debts, a Portuguese national found himself in New Zealand trying to retrieve a large shipment of cocaine from a vessel.
Carlos Ferreira-Sampaio, 47, appeared before Justice Jonathan Eaton in the High Court at Dunedin yesterday on a charge of attempting to take possession of a class A drug with the intention of supply.
The summary of facts said Ferreira-Sampaio was the intermediary for the overseas importers, and was tasked with retrieving the contraband from Melbourne and then Dunedin.
The people above Ferreira-Sampaio in the chain of command had not been identified, the court heard.
Ferreira-Sampaio was previously part of the armed forces, and came into the criminal enterprise after a restaurant business in Portugal and Spain collapsed due to the global pandemic, coupled with mounting gambling debts.
It was in September 2022, when he left Portugal to help retrieve two duffel bags from the hull of a boat docked in Melbourne. However, tight security dashed that plan, so he flew to Queenstown along with Australian tradie turned stripper, Matthew Hodder, who was jailed for four years and two months.
The pair drove to Dunedin where the Spirit of Auckland was docked at Port Chalmers, with the intention of removing the two duffel bags stashed in the hull’s intake grate, on the starboard side.
However, the pair were unaware that the 91kg of cocaine, which had an estimated street value of $27 million, was already removed by American authorities when the ship berthed at Philadelphia on August 2, 2022.
On September 15 and 16, the pair purchased diving equipment from around Dunedin, spending $4000 from one store alone. That shopping list included a wetsuit, waterproof LED dive torch, a buoyancy control device, two dive knives, and dive bags, the summary of facts said.
The pair later scoped out Port Chalmers, where the ship would berth. While they stayed in the city, police installed a listening device in their rental vehicle.
On September 17, at 6.50am, the ship docked at Port Chalmers. Hodder entered the water and did numerous dives trying to locate the stashed duffel bags by the intake grate, and remained in radio contact with Ferreira-Sampaio
He was unable to find the drugs. Hodder later returned to meet Ferreira-Sampaio and told him the cocaine was not there – in communications intercepted by police – while the pair awaited further instructions from ‘overseas based importers’, the police summary of facts said.
The pair received a video of where the drugs were stashed, which was also intercepted by police.
Before a second attempted dive, they returned to Dunedin to have breakfast, but were arrested by police.
Justice Eaton noted that Ferreira-Sampaio was willing to take part in rehabilitation programmes while he served his sentence.
Ferreira-Sampaio had written a letter detailing his childhood, his education and when he served as a paratrooper in various conflicts, including Kosovo and East Timor.
He was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and left the army to enter the restaurant trade.
His family had written letters of support, while Ferreira-Sampaio had expressed his shame over the offending.
Justice Eaton acknowledged a jail term for a foreign national was a challenge, but he hoped Ferreira-Sampaio used his time constructively.
If the drugs had not been removed in the US, Ferreira-Sampaio could have faced a maximum sentence of up to 25 years.
He was jailed for five years and two months.