A pleasure cruiser that sailed into stormy headlines after it was confiscated during a busted £160m drug run has rocked up for repairs and a refurb at a boatyard in the heart of Gloucester.

The 120ft expedition yacht Kahu was used to smuggle a massive cocaine haul from south America but was intercepted near Guernsey and subsequently sold at auction for £473,500 in 2022. 

The funds from the confiscated vessel then went back into the national coffers.

In a crime overseen by 33-year-old Stockton-on-Tees man Andrew Cole, who subsequently was handed an 18-year jail sentence, officers from the Border Force and National Crime Agency successfully acted on intel to intercept and board the Kahu before Cole was able to jettison a mobile phone which spilled all the details of the plan. Five other Nicaraguan crew members, also arrested, were later cleared of smuggling charges.

Seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act, the National Crime Agency then instructed Wilsons Auctions to sell MY Kahu on 27 April for an unreserved price, in 2022. 

Built in 1979 for the Royal New Zealand Navy, the motor yacht had been converted in 2010 into a pleasure craft and had since made several voyages across the Pacific and Atlantic.

But judging by the sorry state of the vessel now in Gloucester Docks, it has not been kept shipshape. Enquiries with the shipyard from Punchline-Gloucester.com indicated that the vessel was sent to Gloucester for TLC, having been berthed in Torquay Marina after its initial auction.

However, it is understood that the owner may now have a ready buyer for Kahu, so its stay for rehab work in Gloucester may be shorter than anticipated.

● T Nielson and Company was established in 1988 by Tommi Nielsen and Sarah White, both experienced sailors, and has become a recognised specialist in traditional shipbuilding, rigging and restoration, not least for its worldwide reputation for working with historic timber ships.