A FORMER P&O ferry steward from the North-East has been found guilty of smuggling cocaine into the UK from the Netherlands.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) investigated Eddie Tron, 51, of Gateshead, and ferry chef Mark Quilliam, 55, of Liverpool, following the conviction of former colleague, Jonathan Heald, in 2013.

Heald was arrested with around £60,000 cash and jailed for money laundering.

An undercover NCA officer befriended Tron, who worked aboard the Pride of Hull, over three months during which he revealed he and Heald had worked together to import drugs from the Netherlands.

They used Quilliam, who worked aboard P&O's Pride of York, as a point of contact with criminal groups in Liverpool and suppliers in the Netherlands.

Tron, 51, bragged he made thousands of pounds every trip, but said work dried up since Heald’s arrest, adding: “I started making some money, serious f*****g money. And then it stopped cos of a lad being greedy.”

Financial checks showed Tron and his wife Susan, 54, both of Carr Hill Road, Gateshead, deposited almost £140,000 in cash in three bank accounts between 2009 and 2015.

Tron then tried to recruit the undercover officer to work on future smuggling operations, telling him: “We’ll have to go ashore in Rotterdam…and you would meet a kid and he would give you something. And then just bring it on and then, this side, I would take it off.”

He also explained how he planned to conceal the drugs, using work jackets: “I give him my coat, my coat’s got f*** all in it, he gives me a coat with four kilos in or whatever it is. Then, when we get off in Hull, same thing. So, all you’re doing is passing the coat.”

In April 2015 Tron travelled to Rotterdam to make direct contact with drug traffickers but was under surveillance by Dutch police.

Tron was seen getting into a car, but the driver became suspicious and drove off at high speed, losing the police.

Several weeks later Tron met Quilliam at a pub in Hull, later telling the undercover officer how Quilliam had said his contacts wouldn’t use him for any more importations because of what had happened in Rotterdam.

On September 30 2015 Eddie Tron was arrested by NCA officers on board the Pride of Hull. Susan Tron and Mark Quilliam, of Gladica Close, Huyton, Liverpool, were detained at their homes.

Eddie Tron claimed he had made up stories about drug smuggling, and everything he told the undercover officer was “fantasy”.

His wife claimed the money paid into her bank account had been from gambling wins.

But today (Tuesday January 17) a jury at Hull Crown Court found Eddie Tron and Mark Quilliam guilty of conspiring to import class A drugs. Susan Tron was found guilty of money laundering. They will be sentenced on Wednesday 18 January.

Mick Maloney, from the National Crime Agency’s Border Policing Command, said: “Eddie Tron and Mark Quilliam worked as ‘guns for hire’, selling their services to organised crime groups to help them get their commodity into the UK.

“Theirs was an important link in the chain which connects ruthless cocaine manufacturers in South America with street gangs involved in violence and exploitation on the streets of the UK.

“They abused their access and knowledge to bypass border controls and import large quantities of class A drugs, but our investigation was able to uncover their corruption.

“The NCA is grateful for the support and co-operation of the ferry operator, port authorities and Border Force in this investigation. We are all determined to target and stop those who seek to circumvent border controls for criminal purposes.”