One tonne naval cocaine haul unloaded in Cork

By Sean O’Riordan

Members of the gardaí and navy have started unloading the one tonne haul of cocaine seized on a yacht off the Cork coast in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The cargo of drugs with a street value of €88m was found on board the 60ft Makayabella after it was stormed by the navy. It was towed slowly to Haulbowline naval base in Cork harbour, arriving late on Wednesday morning.

Three men arrested on board are still been questioned at the Bridewell station in Cork city where they can be held for a total of seven days.

A fourth man was arrested in the Leeds area in connection with the massive seizure.

The National Crime Agency confirmed the 43-year-old was detained in the early hours of Wednesday on suspicion of conspiring to import Class A drugs in an operation assisted by officers from West Yorkshire Police. He was subsequently bailed until January.

“The arrest was directly linked to the seizure made by the Irish authorities,” an NCA spokesman said.

The Makayabella, a charter yacht, was tracked from the Caribbean and the international investigation also involved Venezuelan authorities.

The interception followed intelligence from the French custom service, through the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre based in Lisbon.

Details of the naval operation were kept secret for more than a day-and-a-half.

The men on board put up no resistance to the armed navy team who had launched on smaller rib boats from the offshore patrol vessel the LE Niamh. Another major coastal patrol vessel, the LE Roisin, provided back-up during the operation.

The passage around the south-west coast of Ireland has been well used in recent times by drugs smugglers bringing shipments from South America and Africa into Europe.

In 2007, a record €440m of cocaine was seized in Dunlough Bay in west Cork when a UK gang botched an attempt to bring the massive haul ashore on a smaller boat and capsized in rough weather.

Most of the group, including two Englishmen, were arrested in follow-up operations and eventually given lengthy prison sentences.

Just a year later, a €400m haul was intercepted on the Dances With Waves yacht about 150 miles off Mizen Head.

Three British men on board were later jailed for 10 years each for their part in the plot.