Judge says drug traffickers underestimated alertness of West Cork community

Sentencing the seven men to a total of 70 years, Judge Karen O’Connor remarked that they had underestimated 'the diligence, neighbourliness, and alertness of people in coastal communities'

Gardaí thwarted a €58m cocaine smuggling operation when they swooped on various locations near Skibbereen in West Cork on March 14, 2024, seizing vehicles including this campervan near Tragumna.

International drug traffickers underestimated the high quality of gardaí and the alertness of a West Cork community, which together helped to foil a suspected attempt to smuggle more than €58m of cocaine through Ireland, a court has heard.

Seven men who pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the drug trafficking plot have been sentenced to a combined 70 years in prison.