Gardaí are searching for up to €100 million worth of cocaine which they believe was landed on the west coast of Ireland by an international drug smuggling gang before they were arrested in North Kerry earlier this week.
Detectives are satisfied that the four-man gang collected the drugs after they had been dropped off from the Maltese-registered bulk carrier, MV Royal, off the Kerry coast as the ship made its way early on Monday to Foynes in the Shannon Estuary after crossing the Atlantic.
Gardaí from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau arrested the four men after they came ashore in a small boat at an isolated pier at Meenogahane near Ballyheigue in North Kerry at around 5.20am on Monday morning but they didn’t find any drugs on the boat.
However, gardaí believe that the gang, who put to sea from Meenogahane at about midnight on Sunday, did successfully collect the consignment of cocaine dropped from the MV Royal, which acted as a “mother ship” for the smugglers, and landed it elsewhere along the west coast before returning to the isolated pier.
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One of those arrested is a 30-year-old fisherman from Derry while the others, who are in the 30s and 40s, include two men from Scotland and a Serbian national living in Manchester. All are being detained under organised crime legislation which allows gardaí hold suspects for up to seven days.
Gardaí seized a number of encrypted mobile phones as well as night vision and satellite navigation equipment when they arrested the four men at Meenogahane, The equipment has been sent for examination by garda IT experts in the hope it will show where the men had sailed.
In a follow-up operation on Wednesday night, gardaí and customs boarded the MV Royal as she lay at anchor in the Shannon Estuary and arrested a 28-year-old member of the crew on suspicion that he was involved in the dropping off of the huge cocaine consignment.
The MV Royal left Porto Trombestas, an inland port in northern Brazil located on a tributary of the Amazon, approximately 1,000km from the sea, on December 27th. It arrived off the Irish coast on Sunday before making for Foynes where she arrived on January 12th with a cargo of woodchip.
Gardaí believe the four men arrested in Meenagohane had been staying in Waterville in South Kerry and that they bought a small boat on Done Deal for €10,000 cash in Kenmare after a Rigid Inflatable Boat they had brought with them was damaged at Caladh Pier near St Finian’s Bay.
On Tuesday night, Det Chief Supt Seamus Boland of the GNDOC applied at a special sitting of Killarney District Court for a 72 hour extension to their detention as he gave an outline of what gardaí believed happened.
Gardaí suspect the men were involved in the importation of controlled drugs placed in the water by a vessel known as a mother ship, said Det Chief Supt Boland.
Gardaí said international inquiries were ongoing with Interpol, Europol and the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre – Narcotics in Portugal and other police forces to confirm the identity of each of the four men and to establish their alleged role in the planning and importation of drugs.
Judge David Waters granted the 72 hour extension which allows gardaí to detain and question the four men, who were represented at the hearing by solicitors, Padraig O’Connell, Pat Mann and Brendan Aherne until late on Friday night.
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