Customs: Drug smuggling along coast a ‘growing threat’

THERE is a “growing threat” of maritime drug smuggling along the Irish coastline, the customs drug chief said yesterday.

Michael Colgan said the EU police agency Europol described the Irish and British coastline as “vulnerable” to drug trafficking. “Europol highlighted it as a specific threat and it is a constant issue for us. It is a growing threat,” said the director of Customs Drug Law Enforcement.

Before the massive seizure off Bantry, he claimed, there had been no major maritime drug seizures off our coast in recent years.