Major dealer held after Ibiza cocaine haul
The Cork man was nabbed along with seven others after cocaine worth an estimated €50 million was seized near the party island of Ibiza.
The 42-year-old west Cork man from Clonakilty was described yesterday by gardaí as a major dealer.
“It’s good for us. He’s heavily involved in trafficking and would have been able to facilitate the other men arrested with getting such a load of cocaine,” said one garda source.
Spanish police seized over 830kgs of cocaine in a number of raids in Ibiza and around Benidorm, on Spain’s south-east coast, last Friday.
The Irish national was arrested in the port of San Antonio in Ibiza along with two British nationals on board a 48ft boat, Joe Ann Moore.
Spanish police found 717kg of cocaine hidden in four secret compartments in the hull of the boat.
In a planned second operation, police raided a boat in the port of Denia, north of Benidorm and uncovered 116kg of cocaine.
The skipper of the boat and two other crew members were arrested.
Altogether, three Britons, three Spaniards, a Norwegian and the Irishman were arrested.
Meanwhile, customs officers yesterday seized around 3kg of cocaine, with an estimated street value of €250,000 at Cork Airport.
The seizure was made following a positive indication by drug detector dog Harvey.
A search of a passenger who had arrived on a flight from Amsterdam to Cork revealed drugs in his luggage.
A Nigerian male, resident in Ireland, was arrested by customs officers and transferred to garda custody. The man is being detained at Togher Garda Station.
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