A torpedo-type device containing cocaine valued at up to €5 million lay on a remote Co Clare beach for a number of months, a local man has said.
Customs officials yesterday said they had examined the object found on Kilmacreehy beach near Liscannor after receiving a tip from a member of the public and found some 75kg of the drug inside.
Revenue said the device may have been attached below the waterline of a cargo ship or other maritime vessel before washing up on the beach.
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“However, it is not possible at this stage to say either where the drugs originated, or their intended destination,” a spokesperson added.
Lahinch hotelier Michael Vaughan said he was “absolutely dumb-founded” to see photographs of the object and hear reports that it contained €5 million of drugs. He said he examined the outside of the device while out flying kites on the beach with his wife, children and sister on August 28th.
Mr Vaughan said he believed the canister must have been on the beach “for weeks, if not months before we came across it as it would take a heavy sea to throw that up on the beach”.
“It was the most inconspicuous item. Not for a second did we did think it could contain that amount of drugs – or any drugs at all,” he said. “Myself and my sister, Marie, lifted up the canister. We were all puzzled as to what might be in it.”
Mr Vaughan said he thought it was casing filled with concrete and might have been discarded by a farmer who used it as a gate post.
“There were no markings on it whatsoever. I thought it didn’t look like anything that may have come from a ship.”
Mr Vaughan said that he emailed the Revenue yesterday to inform them that he came across the canister at the end of August.
Revenue said the public should not put themselves in danger by approaching or interfering with suspicious items such as this one.
The Customs “Drugs Watch Programme” encourages those living in coastal communities, maritime personnel and people living near airfields to report unusual or suspicious activities to the Customs Service at 1800 295295.
