A man has been remanded in custody after he was charged at the weekend in connection with the discovery of €107 million worth of cocaine washed up in 61 bales on the west Cork coast last week.
Gerard Hagan (23) from Hollowcroft, Liverpool, was charged with possessing cocaine and possessing cocaine for sale or supply at Dunlough Bay, Mizen Head, on July 2nd last.
Det Garda Bart O'Leary told a special sitting of Clonakilty District Court on Saturday that he arrested and charged Mr Hagan in Bantry on July 7th. Mr Hagan made no reply to either charge, Det Garda O'Leary said.
State solicitor for west Cork Malachy Boohig said the State was seeking a remand in custody. Mr Hagan's solicitor, Flor Murphy, said his client was not looking for bail at the moment but was seeking free legal aid.
Judge James McNulty granted Mr Hagan free legal aid after hearing he was not working and had no income or visible assets. He remanded him in custody at Cork Prison to appear again at Dunmanway District Court on Wednesday.
Later, at the same sitting, gardaí successfully applied for a 72-hour extension to allow them to further detain and question a man who was pulled from the sea at Dunlough Bay where the cocaine bales were found.
Mr Boohig said the State was seeking the extension to allow gardaí to further question the man, who is in his 40s and who was arrested last Thursday after being discharged from Bantry General Hospital where he had been treated after his rescue.
Chief Supt Kevin Ludlow said gardaí were awaiting the results of technical examinations of two houses and three four-wheel-drive vehicles which had been confiscated. They were also interviewing two other people in custody. The results of these interviews and tests had to be put to the suspect, as had the result of an examination of a huge amount of CCTV footage still being examined by gardaí, he said.
Meanwhile, two people were arrested on board the catamaran Lucky Day in Spain following a request by the DPP under the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters. Spanish police were still interviewing those men yesterday.
Gardaí were also awaiting the results of technical examination by the Spanish authorities of the GPS tracking system of the boat as well as possible fingerprint evidence.
