'Huge hit' to organised crime: Three more arrested in relation to €157m cocaine haul

A €157m haul of cocaine seized when an elite army unit stormed a cargo ship off the Cork and Waterford coast is the largest drugs capture in the history of the State, gardaí have said.

It was also a “huge hit” to the organised crime gang behind the operation, a senior garda said. A total of 2,253 kg of cocaine was found on the Panamanian-registered vessel in a major joint agency operation on Tuesday.

Assistant Garda commissioner Justin Kelly told a press briefing today that significant resources would have been devoted by the smugglers to the operation, including buying vessels and paying people to carry out the task.

“This [seizure] will be a significant disruption for the organised criminal groups behind this,” he said. “As you can imagine there are significant sums of money involved in getting an operation like this up and running.

“This is a huge hit for the people involved in it and, what’s really important, is that there’s a message coming from us, the Joint Task Force: Ireland isn’t an easy place to smuggle drugs into and that we’re absolutely relentless and determined to disrupt their activities.”

Footage of the scenes depicting the boarding of the MV Matthew, now at anchor at Marino Point in Cork, showed army ranger personnel fast-roping from a helicopter to the deck of the ship.

The elite unit boarded the ship after the Irish Naval Service’s patrol vessel, the LE William Butler Yeats, fired warning shots in its direction after it failed to obey orders to halt.

The vessel had been under surveillance since Friday when a multi-agency operation responded to intelligence of a major international drug smuggling operation.

Given the scale of the haul, authorities do not believe the cocaine was solely destined for Ireland.

They suspect the drugs were being transported from South America for distribution across Europe.

“This product was supplied by a South American cartel, one of the murderous cartels that are behind cocaine shipments into Europe,” Mr Kelly said.

“A shipment like this into Europe is partly destined for the Irish market. Obviously, with the size and intelligence we have, we know the organised crime group behind this comprises of a number of different elements across Europe.”

The street value of the 2,253kg of cocaine seized, estimated at €157m, was obtained by calculating the estimated value per kg (approximately €70,000) by the number of kilograms seized.

However, Mr Kelly pointed out that these drugs would be cut so the revenue from the drugs could be higher again, depending on the ratio between the cocaine and other material used.

Spokespeople from the joint taskforce, involving officials from Customs, gardaí, and the Defence Forces, gave details about the operation which reached its culmination with Tuesday’s boarding of the MV Matthew.

They emphasised that the operation was still ongoing and, because of this, some operational details are being withheld at this time.

Three people, aged 60, 50, and 31, who were arrested during the course of the operation, remained in custody in police stations in Co Wexford this evening.

Two of those were arrested on Monday, after a fishing trawler, the Castlemore, ran aground off the coast of Wexford as it was believed to be on the way to rendezvous with the larger “mothership” to collect a consignment of drugs.

That vessel remains stuck on a sandbank out at sea with poor conditions preventing the authorities from boarding and searching it. It will be treated as a crime scene when it is accessed, gardaí said.

It has emerged that the third person arrested was medically evacuated off the MV Matthew before the military operation to seize it.

Gardaí said in a statement tonight that they have arrested three more men for alleged organised crime offences. All three are detained at Garda stations in the Southern Region.

Before the MV Matthew was boarded by the members of the Army Ranger Wing, instructions were issued to the ship to steer a particular course and these instructions were not complied with.

This led to warning shots being fired by the LÉ William Butler Yeats, said the fleet operations officer of the Naval Service, Commander Tony Geraghty.

“The environmentals on this operation were particularly difficult and they don’t just impact on a surface ship, they also impact on aircraft as well, particularly on the rotary wing.

“When you’re fast roping people on to a ship, it’s predicated on certain conditions, environmentals and safety limits.

“So if you can imagine the environmental across the deck of the merchant ship is that there was a lot of wind, so a great deal of skill had to be shown by the pilot of the helicopter and, obviously, a great deal of skill demonstrated by the Army Ranger Wing fast roping down.

“I don’t know exactly how high off the deck the helicopter was but you’ve all seen the images…you’re trying to keep an aircraft, a rotary wing aircraft, in a certain position over a ship that’s moving, so you’ve got a ship moving, you’ve got an aircraft moving and then you’re deploying your assets on top of that,” said Cmdr Geraghty.

Military personnel on another helicopter provided armed cover as this particularly perilous portion of the operation was being carried out.

Cmdr Geraghty said the operation was “extremely complex” but that those involved had trained for such operations and were highly skilled to carry out the necessary fast roping down onboard.

He also appeared to refute suggestions that the lack of operational naval service vessels might have hampered the operation.

“I think the outcome of the operation would indicate the success of the operation,” said Cmdr Geraghty.

The press briefing was also addressed by Revenue Commissioner Gerry Harrahill who praised the professionalism of all involved in Tuesday’s operation.

He said he had had an opportunity on Tuesday night of meeting those involved in the operation.

“While they were tired and exhausted, there was a real sense of having done a really good job and delivered a really good outcome.

“That work continued through the night, we have removed the product from the vessel and it’s now in secure storage and I can say that the weight of cocaine involved is 2,253kg and the value is €157m.”

Tuesday’s operation involved the Defence Forces, Customs officers, and An Garda Síochána’s national drugs and organised crime unit.