MV Matthew: How crime gang's ill-prepared crew fell afoul of Ireland's largest cocaine seizure

A poorly-prepared and desperate crew were directed from afar by a sophisticated international crime gang, writes Liz Dunphy

Alerted by media reports, people gathered on headlands at the mouth of Cork Harbour to see the seized MV Matthew being escorted ashore on September 26, 2023. It later turned out to be the largest cocaine seizure in the history of the State. File picture: Dan Linehan

When six men were interviewed from Dubai for jobs by a major drug cartel masquerading as a flash shipping company, they grabbed the lucrative contracts.

They then flew to South America and boarded a very large and somewhat rusty bulk cargo ship, empty of cargo, in Curaçao, off the coast of Venezuela.

On their third night at sea, many of the 21 crew were plied with alcohol “as a distraction”.

As they got drunk, a few men were ordered to load a cargo of “spare parts” off a shadowy ship that pulled up alongside, manned by heavily armed crew.

Fear permeated the MV Matthew from that point, said the six men who have pleaded guilty to involvement in a plot to smuggle 2.25 tonnes of cocaine in the Panamanian-registered 190-metre-long, 32-metre-wide bulk cargo ship, after the ship was seized by Irish authorities off the Cork coast.

The Panamanian-registered MV Matthew being escorted into Cork Harbour. File picture: PA

They were promised bonuses to “keep their mouths shut” about the cargo, they said.

As the giant ship tracked slowly across the Atlantic, the Maritime Analysis and Operation Centre, an international organisation that monitors maritime traffic to dismantle drug trafficking, alerted Irish authorities that they were suspicious of the ship. The MV Matthew’s actual course and its stated course had diverged, since it left the waters off Venezuela, tracked through automatic identification system (AIS) technology.

Meanwhile, gardaí monitored four men in Ireland as they travelled to Glengarriff and then Castletownbere in Co Cork to buy the fishing trawler, The Castlemore, and sail it up the coast.

This boat was to be the “daughter” ship to collect drugs from the MV Matthew’s “mother ship” and was arranging to collect the 2.25 tonne cocaine consignment, worth some €157m, from the larger vessel off the Irish coast.

Vitaliy Lapa's warning ignored

A retired Ukrainian fishing captain, Vitaliy Lapa, aged 62, had been in Ireland since July, staying in hotels in Dublin and Newry that were paid for by his employers, a major transnational organised crime group, waiting for instructions.

Vitaliy Lapa. File picture: Brian Lawless/PA

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had pushed Lapa, a retired fishing captain, back out to work at sea as the conflict had imposed great financial pressures on his family, his counsel Colman Cody said.

Lapa said he was told he would be paid €5,000, which “considering the largesse from this enterprise, was a very paltry sum” for the risks of involvement, Mr Cody said.

His English had been “non-existent” when he came to Ireland in 2023, the Special Criminal Court heard. 

He had been hired for his seafaring experience. 

But when he viewed the fishing trawler, the Castlemore, in Castletownbere, West Cork, with a person of interest to gardaí, on September 21, 2023, he said he had concerns about the boat, believing its engine speed and capacity was insufficient, unable to go above 10 knots.

However, his concerns were ignored and the boat was bought by a Dubai-based operative of the organised crime gang.

Jamie Harbron had no maritime experience

Meanwhile, Jamie Harbron, aged 31, had got the ferry from his home in the UK to Ireland. He bought a ticket on his own debit card just two days before departing on the Castlemore.

Jamie Harbron. File picture: Brian Lawless/PA

Harbron had suffered addiction issues and was “the lowest rung” of the drug smuggling operation, his counsel Michael O’Higgins said.

Harbron left school at age 14 with no GCSEs. He “was a man without means”, with no home or car, Mr O’Higgins said.

He developed addiction issues, consuming cocaine, cannabis, and alcohol, and ran up a significant drug debt. His actions on the Castlemore were to pay off €10,000 of a €20,000 drug debt. He had no maritime experience.

Trawler set sail on September 22

The Castlemore left West Cork on Friday, September 22, 2023.

A message sent to Lapa and Harbron on encrypted messaging app Signal said: “Ok lads, no need for luck, really, this couldn’t be more straightforward — just relax and this will all be over soon.”

A photo released by gardaí of what transpired to be the €157m cocaine haul seized from the MV Matthew. Picture: An Garda Síochána

And it was. But not in the way they had hoped. From the time they set sail, Lapa and Harbron met only adversity.

Harbron, intensely seasick and with no seafaring experience, was terrified and thought he was going to die when their boat got caught in a storm off the South-East coast. 

The boat’s engine failed and it lost electricity and wifi — vital for their clandestine communications with the cartel and the MV Matthew.

Defence barrister Michael O’Higgins said: 

Notwithstanding the very serious risk to their lives, they were specifically instructed not to contact the Coast Guard. 

The gang’s treatment of the two men showed how “expendable” they were, the court heard.

Castlemore's crucial satellite system

A reason the Castlemore fishing trawler had been chosen was because a Starlink satellite internet service was installed. This 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 spoke about the cocaine drop off and “lowering the food” onto the boat. Positions were shared via messages 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 someone named Padre in messages, who was directing the operation from off the boat, said.

Another message said the “parcel” would comprise of “six big jumbo bags tied together […] total weight 2.2T.”

As the weather became increasingly stormy, tensions were clearly rising on the MV Matthew as it tried to convene the drop off.

Soheil Jelveh. File picture: Jim Campbell

The captain, Soheil Jelveh, complained of how “these idiots were late again”. He also expressed concern about the worsening weather, saying a drop-off would be impossible in the growing swell.

'Daughter ship' ran aground

The Castlemore ran aground off the Wexford coast on September 24, 2023. Terrified, exhausted, and sick, the crew issued a distress call after 11pm.

The two men were so exhausted and unwell they couldn’t secure a tow rope being thrown to them by the coastguard and had to be winched to safety by a helicopter in rough seas. They were then arrested.

When the MV Matthew heard that SOS call over the radio that night, a plan was devised to put the drugs in a lifeboat with Cumali Ozgen, who the court heard was the “eyes and ears” of the cartel in Dubai, and lower the boat to sea. But this never happened.

The 'Irish Examiner' front page report on September 26, 2023 notes that gardaí and the navy had already been tracking the trawler before it ran aground off the Wexford coast. Picture: Irish Examiner

Voices from Dubai on the messaging apps also said they could get another boat to leave from Dublin to collect the drugs.

The MV Matthew’s captain, Iranian Soheil Jelveh, then called for a medical evacuation, being winched off the ship by the Irish Coast Guard and taken to hospital — bringing four phones, more than $52,000 in cash, and two suitcases.

He was later arrested in hospital.  

MV Matthew's attempt to flee

Meanwhile, the MV Matthew was trying to escape Irish territorial waters. 

They wrongly believed they could not be boarded by Irish authorities outside Irish territorial waters and planned to go to Sierra Leone for safety.

The MV Matthew berthed at Marino Point, Cork Harbour, in September 2023 after it was seized in the multi-agency operation. File picture: Denis Minihane

The crew had also been told to stay out of UK waters as Ireland only had VHF radio but the UK had more technology to communicate and track.

The MV Matthew repeatedly tried to evade the naval vessel LÉ William Butler Yeats, even when it announced it was a warship and was in hot pursuit — a maritime law which enables a State to pursue a foreign vessel that has violated a law within its jurisdiction. That pursuit can extend beyond its territorial waters.

But the MV Matthew, being directed from Dubai, ignored the LÉ William Butler Yeats’ instructions, despite multiple warning shots.

It repeatedly attempted to evade it and to burn the drugs aboard.

Messaging the Irish naval service — and the gang bosses 

Harold Estoesta was on the bridge, communicating with the Irish warship via radio while asking for instructions from the shadowy paymaster in Dubai.

 

Harold Estoesta. File picture Dan Linehan

He told the navy that the MV Matthew wanted to co-operate, that the crew were crying, panicking, had family to think about.

Meanwhile, he was asking the “captain” in Dubai what he should do.

That “captain” told him to wait and he would call his “lawyer friends”.

“Please make sure everything is deleted from phones,” a message from Dubai to the MV Matthew crew then said.

“Please don’t lose your confidence,” another message from Dubai said. Another message said: 

We don’t want single dollar from this operation. We don’t want you to go to jail for nothing.

Another message from the “captain” in Dubai said: “they’ve talked too much, show them some real action.

“Be confident, there is law stopping them from boarding the ship.”

Incorrect information 

But the information sent on what constituted Irish territorial waters and their legal rights seemed to be AI-generated and was wrong.

The boat headed out towards the high seas after repeatedly saying it would comply with the navy’s order to proceed to the Port of Cork.

In rough seas, the MV Matthew manoeuvred to try to escape the Irish Defence Forces helicopter as elite army rangers fired a warning shot and abseiled down onto the boat on September 26.

Great bravery was shown by the Army Ranger Wing in climbing down that rope from a helicopter in rolling seas to seize the ship, Detective Superintendent Keith Halley told the Special Criminal Court.

And the MV Matthew’s manoeuvring to evade capture put those elite soldiers in danger, he said.

Once on board, the soldiers saw smoke from a life raft on the starboard side, found the drugs alight, and quickly extinguished the fire to preserve the evidence before seizing the ship.

Of the 21 crew who left from Curaçao off the Venezuelan coast in August, 2023, on the MV Matthew, six would later plead guilty to involvement in drug trafficking.

Crewmen claimed not to know about cargo

Ukrainians Mykhailo Gavryk, aged 32, and Vitaliy Vlasoi, aged 33, said in mitigation that they were forced to flee their homes in Odessa by Russia’s invasion of their country.

Both experienced seamen, they claimed not to know about the ship’s illegal cargo until it was brought aboard and they were then at sea with nowhere to escape to.

Mykhalio Gavryk. File picture: Dan Linehan

Likewise, Harold Estoesta, aged 31, was a qualified seaman and second officer and had been a government scholar in the Philippines. 

One of the few crew with excellent English — the language of communication on the messaging apps — once he was aboard the ship he said he was “terrified” and “alone at sea” so felt he must comply with orders.

Vitaliy Vlasoi. File picture: Dan Linehan

Iranian Soheil Jelveh, aged 51, the captain, was highly qualified and had no known previous links to organsied crime.

He had largely retired to coach football and said he had been lured to Dubai by people offering a better education for his son there, a better life for his family, and help establishing a football foundation.

Fellow Iranian Saied Hassani, 40, had worked at sea almost consistently since graduating from maritime college, which he started in 2005, so much so that he missed all of his six-year-old daughter’s birthdays, the court heard.

Saeid Hassani. File picture: Dan Linehan

He has two sisters who need medical care — one is in a wheelchair and one has cancer — and he has worked to provide for his wider family since his father died, defence barrister Mark Lynam SC said in mitigation.

However, messages did show him suggesting to the person in Dubai directing the ship remotely that that they should carry guns for the next operation.

Cumali Ozgen, aged 49, originally from Turkey but living in the Netherlands for most of his life, was described as the “eyes and ears” of the cartel on the ship. But his barrister Brendan Grehan said there was no suggestion he had an organising role.

Cumali Ozgen. File picture: Dan Linehan

He was the only one of the accused with no seafaring experience and his role seemed to be to communicate with Dubai and to mind the drugs. 

The court heard he had a son who had required brain surgery and he was trying to provide for his future.

'Immense capabilities, unlimited resources, global reach' 

A transnational organised crime group with “immense capabilities, unlimited resources and a global reach,” directed the MV Matthew drug smuggling operation, Det Supt Keith Halley told the sentencing hearing for the eight men charged in connection with the seizure at the Special Criminal Court this week.

And the crew aboard the MV Matthew were very much directed from voices in Dubai. But the technology they communicated through would ultimately reveal the second-by-second unfolding of the biggest drug seizure in the history of the State.

Voice messages, text messages, photos, and videos, mostly captured from phones, showed the entire operation unfold.

Guilty pleas

All six men arrested onboard the MV Matthew have pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine for sale or supply on the ship between September 24 and 26, 2023.

Lapa and Harbron have pleaded guilty to attempting to possess cocaine for sale or supply between September 21 and 25, 2023.

The eight men will be sentenced on July 4, in the Special Criminal Court by Justice Melanie Grealy, Judge Sarah Berkeley, and Judge Gráinne Malone.