Cocaine trade 'rocketing' warns top EU drug official after Cork seizure

Two members of Spain's Guardia Civil on the remote-control submarine they seized in Galicia packed with narcotics in November 2019. Narco submarines are among the increasingly sophisticated methods drug smugglers use in an attempt to get past European enforcement measures. Picture: Lalo R Villar/AFP/Getty Images

Cocaine trafficking from South America into Europe is “rocketing” and the money spent on it by Irish users is "going straight into the hands" of cartels.

That is according former Assistant Garda Commissioner Michael O'Sullivan, now a top EU drug official, who was speaking on the back of the seizure of 172kg of cocaine in Cork harbour on Thursday.