British police have seized a motor boat which they believe was to transfer 1,100kg of cocaine from the yacht Makayabella on its final leg into Britain.

A brainstorming session by representatives from seven nations 7 years ago was key to Wednesday’s €80m cocaine bust, writes Sean O’Riordan

THE VOYAGE

While the focus of a €82m cocaine seizure off the Cork coast has firmly shifted to Britain, gardaí are still trying to ascertain if the drugs shipment may have been unloaded here before being retransported across the water.

Members of the gardaí and navy have started unloading the one tonne haul of cocaine seized on a yacht off the Cork coast in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Three men, believed to be British, are being questioned by Irish drugs squad officers today after a yacht was intercepted with a suspected cargo of cocaine believed to be worth around €80m.

Three men from the north of England were arrested last night following the seizure of an estimated €88m of cocaine on a yacht during an operation which bears a striking resemblance to a drugs interception in 2008.

The West Cork coastline has long been a favourite drop-off point for drugs traffickers as they’ve seen it as an easy ‘back-door route’ into Britain.

A Royal Navy destroyer intercepted a yacht carrying £4m (€4.87m) worth of cocaine, it was revealed today.

ONE of three cocaine smugglers sentenced to 10 years’ jail yesterday would have received £500,000 (about €550,000) if a potentially deadly €400 million cargo had reached Britain.

Three men who were caught carrying €400 million worth of cocaine past the coast of Cork in a yacht from Venezuela were all jailed today for 10 years.

Today’s cocaine seizure off the south west coast could be worth as much as €500m, it has been revealed.

A yacht with 1.5 tonnes of cocaine on board was seized off the south-west coast today after authorities swooped on an international drugs trafficking ring.

A senior Garda and top customs official are to join an elite European agency fighting cocaine shipments into Ireland, Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said tonight.

ANOTHER huge haul of drugs has been found off the west coast.

A NEW EU agency will clamp down on the trafficking of cocaine into Ireland and the rest of western Europe, Justice Minister Brian Lenihan said yesterday.

The Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan was in Portugal today to launch a new international effort to tackle cocaine trafficking.