Gardaí suspect the cocaine valued at tens of millions of euro seized in Co Limerick was set to be taken to European waters and dropped into the sea for collection as part of a drug trafficking operation that likely began around two months ago.
The haul was discovered by Revenue’s Customs officers with a sniffer dog after the MV Verila bulk cargo vessel was selected for searching in the port of Foynes after sailing from South America via Canadian ports. The 300kg of drugs on board have been provisionally valued at €21 million.
However, the cocaine has a high purity rate and may have been worth in excess of €60 million when mixed with bulking agents by the gangs it was intended for. Customs officers and gardaí also found buoyancy aids and tracking devices with the drugs, indicating the haul was to be dropped over board for collection via smaller vessels.
Security sources said if the full haul was intended for delivery to the Irish market, those on board would have dropped it in the sea before docking into Foynes, thus avoiding the risk created every time a large consignment of drugs was brought into a port.
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The sources added those behind the trafficking enterprise may have intended to drop the drugs, possibly in several smaller loads, to British or Continental European associates after leaving Foynes, and probably making those deliveries within the next week. However, some of the drug may have been intended for the Irish market and could have already been dropped overboard in Irish waters. The big international investigation was now trying to determine where in South America the cocaine originated, who financed the load and which crime gangs it was destined for.
The seizure is the latest large consignment of cocaine found in Ireland after a haul valued at £10 million was discovered in Armagh last Monday week and another near €1 million worth of the drug was discovered in Rosslare, Co Wexford, at the weekend.
Last month the biggest ever seizure of the drug, by weight, was made on the MV Matthew off the coast of Co Cork, weighing 2,253kg and valued at €157 million. However, unlike the MV Matthew, the MV Verila, now impounded in Foynes, is a working vessel carrying out legitimate deliveries of grain.
Garda sources said many of the crew, numbering about 20, likely did not know drugs were on board. However, all of the crew were being voluntarily interviewed as part of the first wave of investigation by the Garda in a bid to determine who knew about the cocaine.
A statement by Revenue’s Customs officers and the Garda confirmed the size of the haul at 300kg, saying it had been discovered on a Maltese-registered vessel that had arrived from Canada. “Revenue officers, including specialist search teams, supported by drug detector dogs, are continuing to search the vessel as part of a live and ongoing operation,” the statement said.
The Garda investigation into the origins and ownership of the drugs was being led by Limerick-based gardaí aided by national units including the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB). The Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre, a Lisbon-headquartered agency that combats drug smuggling by sea, was also aiding the inquiry.
The MV Verila, which was built last year at the Jiangsu Yangzijian shipyard in China is registered at Valletta in Malta. It is a 20,000-tonne bulk carrier that has worked between North and South America and Europe.
The ship arrived in Foynes around 10am on Tuesday having taken eleven days to cross the North Atlantic following its departure from Hamilton, Canada, on December 8th with a cargo of grain for the Irish market.
Garda and Customs were trying to establish if the consignment of cocaine was transferred aboard the vessel at sea or while it was docked, including in Santos, Brazil, for two weeks last month. The vessel was then taken to Canada, docking in Quebec and then Hamilton, followed by the transatlantic journey to Foynes.
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