A seventh man has been arrested this week in connection with the seizure of more than 2,000kg of cocaine off the coast of Cork, in what gardaí say is the biggest haul in the state’s history, reports RTE.
The arrests were made while gardaí were questioning crew members of the MV Matthew container ship where the drugs were found.
Six other men, three Ukrainians, two Iranians and a British national, were already in custody. The judge extended the pre-trial detention of both of them.
All seven have been detained at the southern police station.
The military operation involving the Navy and Army Ranger Wing, which boarded and seized a vessel carrying an estimated €157 million worth of cocaine, has now ended, but the investigation continues.
Officers from the Garda National Drugs and Organized Crime Bureau began interviewing 25 crew members who refused to stop the vessel and attempted to evade capture by using counterattack tactics to enter international waters, reports RTE.
A forensic examination of the MV Matthew, which is under armed guard in Cork Harbour, is underway.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee while speaking on RTE’s Morning Ireland, said: “Ireland is anything but a soft touch, this is a seizure worth €158 million worth of cocaine. This was an operation led by An Garda Síochána working collaboratively with our Defence Forces, our Naval Service, Revenue Customs, but also with intelligence from our counterparts right across the water and right across Europe. What is shows is that we are very much in the game, that we are very much part of a joint effort to take down these crime gangs”.
Speaking at a meeting with police authorities, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris described the drug seizure as a complex operation with “many threads to it”.
“Obviously there is the drugs, and there is the movement of the drugs, but there is also lines of enquiry we wish to follow,” he said, reports RTE.
“I have to pay great credit to our own Defence Forces who did a tremendous job in terms of the fast response to interdict this vessel and then the exceptionally dangerous operation it was to successfully board it and take seizure of it while securing the evidence and while securing suspects as well,” he added, reports RTE.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.