A Brit who once snorted cocaine off the grave of Pablo Escobar and vowed “never to return” to Colombia after angering local cartels has been jailed for drug dealing.

Steven Semmens and four fellow cocaine conspirators have been sentenced to a total of more than 52 years in prison at Swansea Crown Court for their parts in peddling the Class A drug, reports WalesOnline.

On a trip to the South American country in 2018, Semmens was filmed spilling cocaine on the gravestone of Escobar and he said that he carried out the stunt for a bet and did not think things would go as far as they did.

His barrister said that Semmens’ actions did not go down well with some Colombian criminals and that what he did was an example of his naivety.

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Brit who snorted cocaine off Pablo Escobar’s grave jailed for 50 years for drug smuggling

Steven Semmens, whose 2018 graveyard stunt drew the ire of Colombian cartels, has been jailed along with four other defendants at Swansea Crown Court for cocaine dealing

Steven Semmens has been jailed for drug trafficking (

Image: South Wales Police)

Jason Evans

Tim HanlonNews Reporter

04:03, 30 Dec 2022

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A Brit who once snorted cocaine off the grave of Pablo Escobar and vowed “never to return” to Colombia after angering local cartels has been jailed for drug dealing.

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His barrister said that Semmens’ actions did not go down well with some Colombian criminals and that what he did was an example of his naivety.

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Semmens pictured with cocaine on the grave of Pablo Escobar (

Image: Daily Mirror)

Swansea Crown Court heard that Semmens and fellow defendants were involved in trafficking large quantities of cocaine into south Wales.

Semmens and another defendant Shane White plotted to import kilos of cocaine from South America to the UK but the court heard not a single gram actually arrived and there was “something almost comical about their ineptitude”.

Another of the defendants, Swansea plumber Andrew Botto, used a shipping container hidden behind camouflage netting and fencing just yards from a busy road as a base for his separate cocaine-dealing operation. When police forced entry to the locked unit in May last year as part of Operation Wizard they found a 1kg block of high-purity cocaine in a cool box along with disposable gloves, bags, and weighing scales.

Botto was arrested later the same day and was found to have more than £2,000 in cash in his trouser pockets.

Pablo Escobar was leader of the Medellin Cartel (

Image: Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

Semmens – also known as Steven Pascoe, 39, of Port Talbot; Botto, 34, of Swansea; White, 34, of Port Talbot; and Ieuan Emlyn Williams, 37, also from Port Talbot, had all previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply cocaine between April 2020 and August 2021, when they appeared in the dock for sentencing on Thursday.

Semmens and White had also admitted to conspiracy to import cocaine. Botto had also previously pleaded guilty to a separate conspiracy to supply cocaine, while White had also previously admitted conspiracy to import cannabis.

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Speaking in 2018, Semmens said that he was thrown out of Colombia after sniffing cocaine off Escobar’s grave having been found by police despite cutting his hair to change his appearance.

He said the incident and the notoriety which follow had made it “awkward” to get a job and he added: “I just thought it would be a laugh, I didn’t think it would go this far… I was drunk at the time… I’ve been bombarded with threats that I’m going to get skinned alive.”