Five face further charges in case of €150m cocaine seizure from ship off Cork coast

The men had previously been charged in connection with the seizure of some 2.25 tonnes of cocaine on the ship, MV Matthew, off the Cork coast in September

Vitaliy Vlasoi (pictured) told gardaí when charged: "Nothing was in my possession.” File picture: Dan Linehan

Five men arrested in connection with the largest cocaine seizure in the history of the State faced new drug charges on Tuesday at Mallow District Court.

Vitaliy Vlasoi, 31; Mykhailo Gavryk, 30; Harold Estoesta, 30; Cumali Ozgen, 48; and Saeid Hassani, 37, faced two new charges each—one for possession of cocaine for sale or supply with a value in excess of €13,000 in Irish waters and one for possession of cocaine for sale or supply with a value in excess of €13,000 outside of Irish territorial waters. All five were issued the new charges at Mallow courthouse on Tuesday morning.