A South Australian man who helped conspire to smuggle millions of dollars' worth of cocaine from South America to Australia will be jailed until at least mid-2027 for the botched operation which failed because of a "leaky boat".

Key points: Ibrahim Halil Yavuz will spend at least six-and-a-half years in jail for conspiring to smuggle cocaine into Australia

Ibrahim Halil Yavuz will spend at least six-and-a-half years in jail for conspiring to smuggle cocaine into Australia The operation was set to bring in 75 kilograms of the drug, worth $240,000 per kilogram in 2014

The operation was set to bring in 75 kilograms of the drug, worth $240,000 per kilogram in 2014 Yavuz's sentence begins once he serves jail time for trafficking cannabis interstate

District Court Judge Jo-Anne Deuter today sentenced 32-year-old Ibrahim Halil Yavuz to nine-and-a-half years' jail with a non-parole period of six-and-a-half years after he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy.

She said in May 2014, Yavuz went to Flight Centre, at Mawson Lakes, with the mastermind — who went by the codename "George" — a man would accompany the cocaine on the voyage.

"Inside the agency, you used a wall map to show [the drug courier] how the boat would travel from Panama to Australia via New Zealand," she said.

Yavuz then bought a flight so the courier could travel to Panama.

"By the time [the courier] arrived in Panama on May 20, 2014, he understood … that the boat would leave Panama the next day," she said.

"The boat would be met by another boat at set coordinates at which time the commodity would be loaded.

"If they were detained on route to Australia, he would state that the captain was teaching him to sail and was responsible for the vessel."

But she said when the courier arrived in Panama and inspected the boat, he discovered it was "leaky" and could not be fixed for a further six months.

The courier then flew back to Adelaide, she said.

Yavuz 'set for life if job went through'

Commonwealth prosecutors alleged the South American drug smuggling operation was set to bring at least 75 kilograms of cocaine into Australia.

The court was told that in 2014, cocaine could fetch up to $240,000 per kilogram on Australia's eastern seaboard.

The cocaine, from Panama, had been planned to sail to Australia via New Zealand. ( Pixabay )

But Judge Deuter could not find, based on the evidence available, exactly how much cocaine the group planned to smuggle back to Australia.

"After [the courier] returned to Australia, he attended your farm at Virginia in July 2014 … there you referred to 75kg and said you would have been set for life if this job went through," she said.

Commonwealth prosecutor Adam Kimber SC previously told the court Yavuz was not "at the top of this enterprise" but played a key role.

Martin Anders SC, for Yavuz, told the court last month that his client was drawn into the operation by George.

"We're not saying that [George] held a gun to his head, but we ask Your Honour to carefully consider his vulnerability," he said.

He said the South American cocaine plan was [George's] "brainchild".

Sentence to begin after previous conviction's time served

Mr Anders said since being imprisoned, the young father had opened his eyes to his criminal offending and was now "surrounded by the product of his living hell".

"He looks around himself and sees the damage that drugs have caused," he said.

"Of course, he comes from a strict Muslim background and he wasn't a drinker and he wasn't a consumer of drugs, so he personally didn't have the level of insight that might have come as a consequence of suffering from, say, the misery of addiction."

Yavuz's sentence for the Commonwealth conspiracy will begin once he serves jail time for trafficking cannabis from South Australia to Western Australia.