Gardaí analyse drug yacht for Irish role in operation

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.

The haul is thought to be a significant portion of the annual British cocaine consumption.

The gang behind the importation of the 1,025kg of cocaine are based in Yorkshire and three of their members caught on the drug-running yacht Makayabella, who are currently detained by gardaí — the skipper, aged 70, and two drugs mules, aged 35 and 28 — are also from the same region.