Landing the catch

THE EARLY morning knock on the door of an isolated farmhouse in West Cork didn’t only herald the arrival of air-sea rescue helicopters. It led to the biggest drugs case in the history of the State.

Gerard Hagan, 23, from 85 Hollow Croft, Liverpool, pictured left — who pleaded guilty to his part in importing the drugs before the trial of the other three men began and will be sentenced in November — was standing outside the home of Michael O'Donovan of Carrigeengour, Goleen, County Cork, shivering and soaked to the skin.

This resulted in an air sea rescue for a man who was still in the sea — Martin Wanden. But one of the first guards to arrive on the scene, Garda Gerard Prendiville, sensed that there was more to it than an accident at sea. He phoned Detective Sergeant Fergal Foley of the Cork West Divisional Drugs Unit based at Bandon who drove directly to the scene.