Two men have been arrested in west Cork in relation to Monday's €107 million drugs haul.
The two men in their 40s were held in the Schull area this morning, a Garda spokesman said. They are being held in Bantry Garda Station under the provisions of Section 2 of the Drug Trafficking Act.
Gardaí said yesterday they were looking for two men, believed to be English nationals in their 40s, who were seen escaping across fields in the Dun Lough Bay area before Customs officials and gardaí recovered 61 packages of cocaine from the water.
A total of three men are now in custody in relation to the drugs haul and one man is recovering in Bantry General Hospital.
Gardaí believe a group of up to eight men may have been involved in the efforts to land the drugs.
The plan was scuppered when two rigid inflatable boats (ribs) capsized in rough seas in Dunlough Bay early on Monday as they were trying to bring more than 1.5 tonnes of cocaine ashore after it had been dropped in the sea by the "mother vessel".
Gardaí have been given another 72 hours to question a 22-year-old-man who swam ashore early on Monday. Macroom District court granted a garda request for more time after hearing the man has refused to answer questions and there were still doubts about his identity.
The court was told the name and address in Liverpool that the man gave was that of a child who had died in 1985. The passport had been obtained in the name of a firm of solicitors in the UK that detectives had established did not exist.
He subesquently gave an Irish name and an address in Co Monaghan but said he has lived in the UK and Spain in recent times. His details are being cross-checked with the Spanish and British authorities.
A man in his 40s who was rescued from the sea on Monday morning remains in a comfortable condition at Bantry General Hospital. He has claimed to be a South African national resident in the UK but gardaí are still trying to confirm his identity. The UK address he supplied is false. Gardaí believe these two men may have connections to Liverpool.
Michael Colgan of the Revenue's Customs and Excise division said the service had been in contact with its counterparts in countries such as Britain, Portugal and Spain in a bid to identify the 'mother ship' that may have liaised with the rib that picked up the drugs.
These countries have been made aware by the Irish authorities of the circumstances of the seizure on Monday and that customs officers here are attempting to identify a vessel in connection with that seizure.
Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetimeprogramme this evening, Mr Colgan said all the drugs seizures made here were entered into a database operated by the World Customs Organisation.
This was a "very vital network and a very useful network", Mr Colgan said. He said the resource meant that while Irish customs officers were not on the ground in each country, they had good access to intelligence.
Mr Colgan said it was his belief, based on his knowledge of the drugs trade, that the mother ship probably remained in the western Europe area. Asked about speculation that the ship may have originated in the Caribbean area, Mr Colgan said customs officials here were in touch with British authorities who had liaison officers posted in that area.
"We can call on all the resources they have at their disposal," he said.