Four men appear in court charged with seizure of €31m worth of cocaine in Co Cork

Olivia Kelleher

Four men have appeared before a court in West Cork charged in connection with the seizure of €31 million worth of cocaine in Courtmacsherry in west Cork on Tuesday.

All four men have been remanded in custody. One of the men has an address in Germany whilst three of the men are British nationals.

Levant Gulay, Mark Dohery, Ben Sandford and Christopher Hibbett appeared before Bandon court charged in connection with the seizure of 440kgs of cocaine.

They were brought to the court by members of the Garda National Drug and Organised Crime Bureau. Gardai were assisted by the Armed Support Unit.

Detectives from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau gave evidence of the arrest, charge and caution of the four accused at garda stations in Bandon in the county and Togher in Cork city.

All four men were charged with possession of cocaine and possession of cocaine for sale or supply at Meelmane, Courtmacsherry, Co Cork on July 1st 2025.

Det Garda John McWeeney gave evidence of the arrest, charge and caution of Mark Doherty (40) of Waterfoot Avenue, Glasgow, Scotland. He said that Mr Doherty made no reply when the charges were put to him.

Det Garda Shane Kiely gave evidence of the arrest, charge and caution of Ben Sandford (39) of Woodgreen, Drum Road, Keith, Moray, Scotland. He also made no reply to the charges.

Det Garda Marguerite Reilly gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution in relation to Levant Gulay (31) of Schwabeenstrasse 76, Neu Ulm, Germany. He made no reply to the charges.

Det Garda Gavin Curran, gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution of Christopher Hibbett (44) of Lower Park, Trissillian, Truro, England.

Det Garda Curran told the court that Mr Hibbett stated “I’m fucking sorry, that’s it” when he put the possession of cocaine for sale or supply charge to him earlier today at Togher Garda Station.

Solicitors Myra Dineen and Plunkett Taaffe, representing Mr Gulay and Mr Doherty respectively, said that their clients were reserving their positions on bail.

Both solicitors opted to stand in for Frank Buttimer for Mr Sandford and for solicitor Eddie Burke for Mr Hibbett. They confirmed that they were also not seeking bail for either man at this juncture.

Sgt Tom Mulcahy told Judge Joanne Carroll that gardaí were seeking a remand in custody for all four men to Macroom District Court on July 9th. Judge Carroll remanded all four accused to appear in court on that date.

Judge Carroll also requested that defence solicitors provide two days notice to gardaí if their clients intend to make bail applications on the next occasion.

All four men also have to supply statement of means to the court.

The men were held under drugs trafficking legislation which allowed gardai to detain them for seven days.

The arrests occurred as part of a Joint Task Force Drugs Interdiction Operation.