Customs officials boarded and examined a ship suspected of delivering cocaine worth almost €31 million to an international drugs trafficking gang off the south-west coast of Ireland.
The officers examined ship movements off Broad Strand near Courtmacsherry in West Cork and identified a bulk carrier, which they believe may have brought the drugs across the Atlantic from South America for collection off the Cork coast.
The carrier passed 20 miles off Broad Strand in the early hours of Tuesday morning, leading customs officials to believe it may have been the ship that delivered the drugs to the gang waiting in a rigid inflatable boat (RIB).
Customs rummage crews boarded the ship in Irish waters on Tuesday and carried out an examination of it. However, they found nothing of evidential value to the criminal investigation and the ship was told it was free to continue on its voyage.
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Meanwhile, detectives from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB) continue to work with international police forces and the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre – Narcotics (MAOC- N) in Lisbon in a bid to trace the origin of the huge drugs haul.
Gardai from GNDOCB backed up by armed officers from the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) seized the drugs as they were being driven away from Broad Strand near Courtmacsherry by two of the four-man gang involved in landing the cocaine at the empty beach at around 4am.
Armed officers stopped the UK-registered rental van and arrested the driver, a a 40-year-old man from Glasgow in Scotland and his passenger, a 31-year-old German from Bavaria. The officers recovered 440kg of cocaine in 18 vacuum packed blocks from the back of the van.
The two men, whom gardai believed travelled from the UK with the van at the weekend, were taken for questioning to Bandon Garda station. They can be detained for up to seven days under drugs trafficking legislation.
The Naval Service apprehended two other members of the gang, a 44-year-old Englishman from Cornwall and a 36-year-old Scot from Aberdeenshire, when two Maritime Interdiction Teams stopped and boarded their RIB off Waterford.
The Naval Service detained the two men, whom they believe were returning to the UK, and brought them back to Naval Service headquarters where they were handed over to gardaí.
The two men were arrested and taken to Togher Garda station for questioning. They too are being held under drugs trafficking legislation.
The haul of drugs has been sent for analysis by scientists at Forensic Science Ireland to establish the purity of the cocaine. This will give a more accurate estimate as to the potential street value of the consignment.
