MV Matthew crew 'terrified' amid chaos of cocaine trafficking operation, court hears

Special Criminal Court hears of activity on board the ship in the hours before Irish Army Rangers stormed it, bringing the criminal operation to a sudden and dramatic end

Military personnel securing the MV Matthew and escorting it into Cobh in Cork Harbour in 2023. File picture: Niall Carson/PA

Crates of cocaine, loaded under cover of night from an armed boat by some crew members while others aboard the MV Matthew were plied with alcohol “as a distraction” began a descent into chaos which would ultimately lead to their arrest.

“Terrified” and “alone at sea”, the crew said they were then compelled to comply with the major drug trafficking operation directed from Dubai that resulted in Ireland’s largest ever cocaine seizure off the Cork coast in September, 2023.