Revenue has seized 400kg of cocaine so far this year

Revenue seized 133kg of cocaine in Rosslare Port on Wednesday.

Revenue Customs officers have seized some 400kg of cocaine so far this year, treble the amount confiscated for the whole of 2022, new figures show.

The figures, provided to the Irish Examiner, comes as Revenue signed a contract for a new patrol vessel which boasts “advanced navigational and surveillance systems”, with the added capability of operating a modern drone.

The new Revenue Cutter will be based at the agency’s Maritime Unit in Cork and is due to arrive in 2025.

Revenue bosses said the 35m vessel will play a key role in combating maritime organised crime, including drug smuggling.

New figures show there has been a significant increase in cocaine seizures so far this year.

While statistics on quantities provide a partial picture of drug supply — and can be skewed by one-off "freak" seizures — they are used by European and UN agencies to show market trends.

This year has witnessed a number of large-scale cocaine hauls, including 133kg in Rosslare Port on Wednesday, 163kg in Rosslare in July and 55kg in Ringaskiddy, Cork, last April.

Revenue figures show:

• 2019: 63kg of cocaine seized, with estimated street value of €4.4m;
• 2020: 101kg seized (€7m);
• 2021: 800kg seized (€56m);
• 2022: 133kg seized (€9.3m);
• 2023: 400kg seized (€28m). 

The 2021 figure was skewed by a massive 500kg haul of cocaine that was first intercepted in Rotterdam inside a container coming from South America on its way to Dublin Port.

Dutch police, working with the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau and Revenue, made a controlled delivery of the cocaine, which was infused into charcoal, to continue to Dublin Port, where it was confiscated.

The same year also saw the seizure of 172kg of cocaine at Ringaskiddy, hidden inside a container coming from South America.

Record seizures in Europe

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction has recorded both record production of cocaine in South America and record seizures in Europe.

In its annual report last June, the agency said, in a bid to avoid tighter security in major European ports, cartels could increasingly target smaller ports in Europe and that this "may well" include Ireland.

As well as intelligence-led operations and profiling at the country’s ports, assisted by X-ray scanners and drug detection dogs, Revenue operates two vessels to patrol the country 3,000km coastline, based at its Maritime Unit in Cork.

On Thursday, Revenue signed a contract with a Spanish company to deliver a modern vessel to replace one of the existing Cutters.

Revenue chairman Niall Cody, said: “The range and extent of interventions carried out by Revenue’s enforcement teams result in significant seizures of illicit products. 

"For example, during 2022, 3,600kg of drugs, were seized. The new Cutter will further enhance Revenue’s capacity.”