Two men from the Philippines who were arrested on board a cargo ship in the Shannon Estuary have appeared before a sitting of Tralee District Court charged with conspiracy to import drugs.
The arrests resulted from of a joint operation conducted by the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau and Revenue Customs Service in the southwest and it brings to seven the number of people arrested.
The two men who appeared on Monday, Hanz Panaghin (36) and Christopher Ampo (43), were arrested on Saturday.
Both are accused of conspiring with each other and others in the importation of drugs valued at more than €13,000 between January 11th and 13th.
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‘The phone would ring and it would be Mike Scott from the Waterboys or Bono from U2. Everyone wanted to talk to my father’
A Filipino interpreter was sworn in at the start of proceedings.
Evidence of the arrest, charge and caution of Mr Pangahin was given by Det Gda Redmond O’Leary of the National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau. He arrested and charged him at Kilrush Garda Station on Sunday and there was no reply after caution, the detective said.
Det Garda Colum Tighe, also of the National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, gave evidence he arrested Mr Ampo on the same date. There was no reply after caution, he said.
The State’s application in both cases for remand in custody to reappear at the court in Tralee on Wednesday was granted by Judge David Waters.
Five other accused have also been remanded in custody to Wednesday after appearing before a special sitting of Killarney District Court on Friday night.
The men aged between 28 and 45 include a Serbian national with an address in Manchester, two men with addresses in Glasgow, a man from Derry and a Filipino seaman.
Four had been arrested at Meenogahane Pier, Co Kerry in the early hours of Monday January 13th and the fifth had been arrested later on board the cargo vessel on the Shannon estuary.
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