Eight men jailed over Ireland's largest ever cocaine seizure
Eoin Reynolds
The six men caught onboard the MV Matthew with Ireland’s largest-ever drugs seizure and two others who attempted to take the illicit load onboard a second vessel in the Irish Sea have been jailed for a combined 129 years.
More than 2.2 tonnes of cocaine worth around €157 million was found on the MV Matthew after the ship was stormed by Defence Forces soldiers in September 2023.
The Special Criminal Court heard that a number of the crew had been hired by an international organised crime group in Dubai to crew the Panamanian-registered bulk carrier.
Eight men had admitted their roles in trying to smuggle cocaine as part of a massive drug trafficking operation.
At sentencing on Friday, Dutch national Cumali Ozgen (49) received a sentence of 20 years, while Filipino Harold Estoesta (31) received a sentence of 18 years.
The captain of the vessel, Iranian Soheil Jelveh (51), received 17-and-a-half years in prison.
Ukrainians Vitaliy Vlasoi (32) received a 16-and-a-half-year sentence and Mykhailo Gavryk, also 32, received 14 years imprisonment.
Saeid Hassani (40), who was the third officer, received a 15-year sentence.
Two other men, who were on a boat that had been purchased in Castletownbere to collect drugs from the main vessel, were also sentenced for attempting to possess cocaine for sale or supply.
Ukrainian national Vitaliy Lapa (62), with an address at Rudenka, Repina Str in Berdyansk, received a sentence of 14 and a half years.
Jamie Harbron (31), of South Avenue, Billingham in the UK, received a sentence of 13-and-a-half years in prison.
The court previously heard that while the MV Matthew was sailing under the flag of Panama, it was owned by a Dubai-based company known as 'Symphony Marine'.
It departed from Curacao, off the Venezuelan coast and sailed across the Atlantic before arriving in Irish territorial waters.
The court also heard that an organised crime group in Dubai instructed the crew of the MV Matthew as it attempted to evade law enforcement and deliver the drugs to an Irish vessel.
Despite repeated warnings from the Irish Navy, including warning shots fired from the LE William Butler Yeats, the person overseeing the operation told the crew to keep going and head for a safe port in Sierra Leone.
The original plan was that the MV Matthew would deliver the drugs to a second ship, the Castlemore, but rough seas and technical difficulties caused the Irish vessel to miss the connection and later to run aground.
More to follow...
