New €1.6m vessel boosts custom officers’ fight against drugs

CUSTOMS officers are to have their armoury bolstered in the battle against the drugs trade with the addition of a €1.6 million vessel which will be used to patrol the coast.

The RCC Suirbhéir, which earlier this week underwent sea trials, is due to be formally commissioned on June 28 and will be stationed in Cork.

The 21 metre-long cutter, similar to ones used off the Florida coast by the US Coastguard, was built in Finland and has a range of up to 500 miles.

The all-weather vessel will be manned by a crew of six and its principal area of operations will be within Irish territorial waters.

A spokesman for the Revenue Customs Service said the cutter is being introduced as a further development of its response to the problem of drugs importations via the Irish coastline.

"The vessel will provide us with the ability to provide greater cover by way of patrolling the Irish coastline/EU external frontier. It will allow us to have a highly visible presence in coastal areas and make the service more accessible to the coastal and maritime communities who are important partners in the Customs Drugs Watch Programme," he said.

The introduction of this vessel will allow even greater liaison between the Revenue Customs Service and the Naval Service in their combined efforts against drugs smuggling.

Millions of euros worth of drugs have been seized off the coast of Cork in the past 10 years. Irish drugs barons living in Holland and Spain have in the past organised the landing of drugs along the county's lengthy coastline.

The Naval Service is to provide an officer to accompany customs officers for the first few weeks on active service as they get used to the vessel which is not armed.

Powered by two 820kw engines, RCC Suirbhéir, will have a national remit and will be under the management of the Special Compliance District, South West Region.

"The role of the vessel will be to the patrol and monitoring of internal waters, territorial seas and adjacent waters, aimed at the prevention, detection, interception and seizure of controlled drugs, fiscal goods, and arms," the Revenue Customs Service spokesman said.

She was named following a competition among Revenue staff which attracted over 2,000 entries. The winning suggestion, from Pádraig Dooley from Kilkenny, recalls the former customs service grade of "Surveyor" which was in use for hundreds of years.

The use of the Irish version of the word is in keeping with the tradition of naming all Government vessels in our first language.