New Zealander "Sir" Thomas Graham Fry was yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 25 years for his role in bringing 500kg of cocaine into Australia.
Compatriot Hamish Edmond Thompson, who was also involved in the venture, was jailed for 24 years with no parole for 16 years.
The
pair were among seven men sentenced in Sydney District Court after the jury in the seven-month trial had last month found them guilty of being knowingly concerned with the shipment.
Colombian-born Maximiliano Diez was handed the same sentence as Fry, 49. The others were jailed for the same term as Thompson, 48.
An eighth man, Victorian prison escaper Russell Douglas Bateman, was previously sentenced to 13 years behind bars, with a non-parole period of 8 1/2 years, after conviction on the same charge.
The cocaine, with an estimated street value of up to $A268 million ($327 million) was seized from the yacht Ngaire Wha off the New South Wales coast on February 1 last year.
Fry, Thompson and another man were on the yacht, which had sailed from New Zealand.
The others arrested were on shore waiting for the cargo to arrive.
At the time, the haul represented the biggest cocaine bust in Australian history. It was overtaken in July when 1 tonne of cocaine was found buried at a West Australian beach.
- NZPA
