The Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) has expressed satisfaction at the outcome of an auction where a catamaran, two rigid-hull inflatable boats (ribs), and three jeeps from Ireland's largest ever drugs seizure were sold at auction in Cork this lunchtime.
Cab legal officer Frank Cassidy said the bureau was pleased with the results of the auction, which saw the catamaran Lucky Day, used to transport 1.5 tonnes of cocaine across the Atlantic, sell for €58,000.
The buyer, Emer Stafford, originally from Tipperary but now living in Killybegs, Co Donegal, said she was delighted with what she described as a "real bargain" and said she planned to rename the the boat Imeera - Egyptian for princess.
Ms Stafford said she was not at all put off by the boat's history, adding this made it a more interesting purchase.
The three jeeps were sold for €8,500 (two) and €11,000 respectively, while the small rib, with 250hp engine, fetched €11,000. The six-metre ballistic rib, with two 200hp engines, went for just €2,000. The craft was used to transport the cocaine ashore but was badly damaged in Dunlough Bay.
Auctioneer Dominic Daly had described the rib as a memento of Europe's largest-ever drugs landing and said it would make an ideal garden ornament as he sought bids for it.
The auction, which was held at Courtstown Industrial Estate in Little Island, Co Cork, attracted a huge crowd of around 3,000 people, with many of the lots attracting multiple bids.
The men behind the €440 million drugs haul at Dunlough Bay in West Cork in July 2007 tried to land 62 bales of cocaine on a remote part of the Cork coast using the rib. Prosecutors said the drugs were transferred to the boat from a catamaran which had crossed the Atlantic from the Caribbean.
However, the boat ran out of fuel in rough seas off the Irish coast on July 2nd, 2007, and began to sink, leaving members of the gang to swim ashore to raise the alarm.
The catamaran was bought for $132,000 over the internet by the individuals involved in the drugs haul.
