Cocaine worth up to £70,000 was smuggled across the Channel in an inflatable boat and landed on a Kent beach, a court heard.

Police made arrests after being alerted by a man who had seen the boat arrive early one morning at Hythe.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the primary organisers, Nicholas Chappell, 33, of New Hythe Lane, Larkfield, Maidstone, Neil Hackett, 33, of Bexleyheath, and his brother Jamie Hackett, 25, of Thamesmead, south east London, admitted conspiracy to supply drugs.

Paul Proud, of Lewisham, south east London, David Manser, of Lunsford Lane, Larkfield, and Giedrius Kavaliauskas, of South Farm Road, Worthing, Sussex, deny the charge.

Alan Kent said Chappell and the Hackett brothers used a rigid hulled inflatable boat to bring the drug into the country from France on March 27 last year.

Waiting on the shore at Princes Parade, near the Imperial Hotel, was the “manpower”, including Proud, 47, Manser, 26, and 28-year-old Kavaliauskas, to collect the cocaine.

Mr Kent said a package containing just under a kilo of the drug at 85 per cent purity was smuggled. The boat was dismantled, put in a van and driven away.

The cocaine was loaded into a car and driven off “as quickly as possible”, ready for distribution to dealers.

Proud and the Hackett brothers admitted being on the beach at the relevant time but denied any knowledge of a conspiracy.

The prosecutor said when they were questioned by officers, they claimed they were planning to go fishing but had forgotten their rods.

No drugs were found at the time and they were allowed to go.

Officers went to Chappell’s Larkfield home and found the hired van used close by. Before searching his house he told them there was a kilo of cocaine on top of a kitchen unit.

A holdall containing £31,000 was seized from the kitchen floor. A diving suit and a dry suit were also found.

Mr Kent said Chappell had another address in Littlehampton, Sussex, which was also searched. Various equipment was found there.

The trial continues.