Phone records counter Toledo skipper’s claims

KNYSNA: Cape Town marine engineer Bev Jones received an SMS from a friend asking about the Toledo the day after the boat left Knysna on a five-day trip to load almost two tons of cocaine.

Warrant Officer Mias Engelbrecht of the Organised Crime Division in the Western Cape yesterday told the Circuit Court in Knysna that he analysed the call and SMS records of Jones’ cellphone and eight other cellphones seized by police after 1 716kg of raw cocaine was found aboard the Toledo moored at a Knysna Waterfront flat on December 10, 2010.

Jones, 47, and his employee Mogamat Adams, 41, have submitted that they were in Cape Town while the haul of cocaine was being loaded aboard the Toledo – presumably from a passing ship – between December 5 and December 9, 2010.

The two marine engineers said they were taken out by rubber duck to the Toledo on an emergency callout on the night of December 9 to repair the boat’s engines following a breakdown, and then returned the boat safely to Knysna, only to be arrested by police.

Before December 5, Jones is alleged to have acted as the Toledo’s skipper and he and Adams apparently moved the boat from Hout Bay to Knysna in November 2010 after working on it for the new owners.

Engelbrecht said Jones’ cellphone was inactive between December 5 and December 10, but at about 4am on December 6 someone named Heather Armata or Armatage sent him an SMS saying: “just landed in ct absolutely exhausted how did toledo do today”.

Jones, Adams and four other men have pleaded not guilty to dealing in cocaine, alternatively possession of cocaine.