'This will all be over soon', crime bosses told men before 2.5 tonne cocaine seizure, court hears
Some 2.5 tonnes of cocaine was seized from the MV Matthew in September 2023. The shipment has been linked to an international crime operation, with 'immense capability'. Picture: Larry Cummins
“No need for luck [...] just relax and this will all be over soon," was a message sent from a suspected crime boss to the men now charged with the State's largest cocaine seizure before the ship in which they were sailing was stormed.
The MV Matthew, owned by a Dubai-based company, was raided at gunpoint by Ireland's elite army ranger wing in rough seas in September 2023, off the Cork coast.
A transnational organised crime group with "immense capabilities, unlimited resources and a global reach," directed the MV Matthew drug smuggling operation, Detective Superintendent Keith Halley told a sentencing hearing for eight men charged in connection with the seizure at the Special Criminal Court.
A cell structure within the organised crime group was evident, so if one cell was compromised, the overall damage would be limited, Det Supt Halley said.
One of these cells was in Dubai and the investigation was "very much ongoing" regarding the cell structure in this criminal organisation, Det Spt Halley said.
All crew aboard the MV Matthew told gardaí following their arrest that they had flown to Dubai for interviews before travelling to South America to board the vessel.
There was also "a major Iranian nexus in this operation," Det Supt Halley said.
Eight men have pleaded guilty to involvement in the operation after 2.25 tonnes of cocaine was seized from the Panamanian registered MV Matthew, a 190-metre-long, 32-metre-wide bulk cargo ship in a dramatic operation when the ship was boarded from the air by armed elite defence force personnel.
Ukrainians Mykhailo Gavryk, 32, Vitaliy Vlasoi, 32, Vitaliy Lapa, 62; Iranians Soheil Jelveh, 51, and Saeid Hassani, 39; Dutch national Cumali Ozgen, 50, Filipino Harold Estoesta, 31, and UK national Jamie Harbron, 31 have pleaded guilty to involvement in the operation and are being sentenced in the Special Criminal Court this week.
Defence barrister Brendan Grehan SC said it appeared that those controlling the operation were directing it from thousands of miles away in Dubai.
Those people acted like "a coach giving a pep talk" telling the people on board to keep going, no matter what, Mr Grehan said.
And in terms of criminal enterprises, the owners tended to be at the top of the pyramid, usually a number of places removed from the people carrying out the operations, Mr Grehan said.
He is representing Cumali Ozgen, who despite being of the lowest rank on the ship had the most important cabin, and was the only person other than the captain to have unlimited access to wifi.
The court heard that his main task seemed to be communicating with Dubai.
Mr Ozgen's son had suffered a serious brain injury and he was trying to provide care for him, Mr Grehan said.
The Captain, Soheil Jelveh, an Iranian, was in fear for his life and the lives of his family, he told gardaí.
The group who commissioned the job on the MV Matthew had helped him bring his family to Dubai and knew where they were, he said.
He said he was lured to Dubai by the promise of a better education for his son and a better life for his family. His wife has terminal cancer, his barrister, Michael Bowman, SC, told the court.
He had largely retired from being a captain to focus on coaching soccer, through which he met the contacts in Dubai, he said. He had been promised help establishing a football foundation and a new life for his family in the Emirate state.
But now, after his arrest, he feared his family would be killed in Dubai. He said in interviews:
"They will kill me outside."
He had been captain of the MV Matthew in name but followed orders like everyone else, Mr Bowman said. And these very clear orders were being given offshore, by one person in Dubai at least, he said.
Ukrainians Mykhailo Gavryk and Vitaliy Vlasoi had fled the war in Odessa and were living in Romania when they were lured to work aboard the MV Matthew, the court heard.
They said they were told that the cargo loaded onto the boat was spare parts, but when Mr Gavryk said he became suspicious that this was not the case, he was told he would be paid more money if he "kept his mouth shut."
The operation which intercepted the drug operation involved a joint taskforce between gardaí, Revenue, and the defence forces.
Communications on encrypted messaging apps Signal and Whatsapp revealed the conversations between the crew on board the MV Matthew as the weather worsened and Irish authorities closed in.
Photos of giant white bags being lifted by crane on the boat were shown in the Special Criminal Court at the accused's sentencing hearing today.
Flanked by interpreters, the men looked tense as they waited for the three-judge Special Criminal Court of Judge Melanie Grealy, Judge Sarah Berkeley, and Judge Grainne Malone, to decide their fate.
Det Supt Halley was Senior Investigating Officer for the case and was a detective inspector with the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau at the time.
He was also involved with MAOC-N, the multi jurisdiction organisation which monitors maritime traffic to dismantle drug trafficking networks.
Prior to the boat being intercepted, authorities had been tracking its course.
MAOC-N provided intelligence reports containing suspicions about the MV Matthew while gardaí were also corroborating that intelligence with their own reports that the MV Matthew may be involved in drug trafficking, Det Supt Halley said.
Authorities tracked how the actual course and the stated course of the MV Matthew had diverged, since it left the waters off Venezuela, through technology called the AIS – Automatic Identification System.
While the MV Matthew was tracking across the Atlantic towards Ireland, Gardaí monitored Mr Lapa and Mr Harbron in Ireland, travelling to Castletownbere to buy the fishing trawler the Castlemore and sailing it up the coast.
This boat was to be the 'daughter' ship to the MV Matthew's 'mother ship' and was arranging to collect the cocaine consignment from the larger vessel off the Irish coast before it ran aground off Wexford, scupering the operation, the court has heard.
Gardaí also monitored these men communicating with other persons of interest in Ireland, including someone from Dubai, gathering CCTV of communications in petrol stations, at a McDonald’s and hotels.
Two people Mr Lapa and Mr Harbron were communicating with are still subject to garda investigation.
A reason the Castlemore fishing trawler was chosen for the operation was because a Starlink satellite internet service was installed which would allow online communications between people on the boat and off the boat through messaging apps Signal and Whatsapp.
The contents of these messaging apps would prove central to the State’s case.
Messages at the beginning showed the operation appearing to go well.
But as the weather worsened, communications between the group became increasingly tense and frayed, with the MV Matthew captain, Soheil Jelveh, threatening to leave.
An individual named ‘Padre’ in messages who was directing operations from off the boat instructed the crew to ‘slow down mate’ and wait for the ‘ETA of big boat’.
Messages spoke about “lowering the food” onto the boat.
Positions were shared and multiple attempts were made for the ‘mother ship’ and ‘daughter ship’ to meet.
“There will be four jumbo bags, it will be a lot but just go like fuck mate to truck away,” one message from Padre said.
Another message said the ‘parcel’ would comprise of "six big jumbo bags tied together […] total weight 2.2T.”
Ukrainians Mykhailo Gavryk, and Vitaliy Vlasoi, both 32; Iranians Soheil Jelveh, 51, and Saeid Hassani, 39; Filipino Harold Estoesta, 31, and Dutch national Cumali Ozgen, 49, all pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine for sale or supply on board the MV Mathew between 24 and 26 September 2023.
Ukrainian national Vitaliy Lapa, aged 62, with an address at Rudenka, Repina Str in Berdyansk, and Jamie Harbron, aged 31, of South Avenue, Billingham in the UK, pleaded guilty to attempting to possess cocaine for sale or supply between 21 and 25 September 2023.
Sentence hearings for the eight men will continue tomorrow.
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