Gardaí secure extra 48 hours to question 10 men arrested in west Cork cocaine seizure

GARDAÍ who successfully smashed a European-South American cocaine smuggling pipeline off the south west coast have sought further time to question ten men arrested as part of the operation.

Detectives have sought a further 48 hours to question the ten men who were detained last Thursday in Leap and Tragumna in west Cork during a major Garda anti-drugs response.

The application for the second extension of the detention period was brought before Bandon District Court.

Judge James McNulty had granted Gardaí a primary 72-hour extension before a special district court sitting last Friday night.

Gardaí can detain the men for questioning for a maximum of seven days under anti-drug smuggling regulations.

Detectives must then either release or charge those detained.

A further two day extension of the detention period was sought on Monday evening.

It was granted amid indications that further searches are being conducted by Gardaí with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) now assisting the investigation.

Gardaí are being supported by police forces in France, the UK, Spain, the Netherlands and Portugal.

Last week, Chief Supt Vincent O’Sullivan explained that Gardaí required more time to question all the men arrested.

He said that Gardaí believed they were dealing with a sophisticated, well-resourced and well-financed criminal organisation which was international in both its scope and range of activities.

Only one of the 10 men detained has an Irish address.

All 10 are being detained under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act.

Technical experts are still combing through a range of electronic devices seized as part of the Garda operation last Thursday.

These include mobile phones, satellite phones, computer tablets and GPS equipment.

Detectives believe electronic data including phone calls as well as encrypted texts, emails and GPS data will reveal the full extent of multinational operations by the notorious drugs gang involved.

Some are so complex that Gardaí have had to seek expert IT support from overseas.

The 10 are all aged between 25 and 56 years.

Amongst those detained are men with addresses in Spain, the Netherlands, the UK and Ireland.

At least two of those arrested have Middle Eastern links.

They are being held at a number of garda stations across Cork city and county including Mallow, Bandon, Bantry, Togher and the Bridewell.

It is suspected the gang were attempting to land a major haul of cocaine in west Cork with the drugs having been shipped from the Medellin area of Colombia via Venezuela.

Several of the men are very experienced divers – leading Gardaí to consider whether part of the cocaine consignment was to be hidden underwater offshore and retrieved when gang members believed it was safe to do so.

Gardaí are now working with the Naval Service, Coast Guard as well as police and navy forces in four other countries to identify and trace the suspected ‘mother ship’ which brought the drugs shipment into Irish waters.

No ‘mother ship’ has been detained or boarded as yet.

The vessel is believed to have departed Irish waters several days ago.

Computer and metadata experts are now assisting Gardaí in unravelling the precise details of the drug smuggling operation.

A number of electronic items were seized including mobile phones, tablets and a GPS device.

While several handsets were so-called ‘burner’ phones which were intended for immediate disposal, it is understood that several phones were capable of encrypted communication.

Gardaí are now examining the devices in the hope of obtaining all communications sent over the past week including texts, calls and emails – and to trace the recipients overseas.

Further, detectives are hoping that an analysis of the devices will also reveal the precise movements of the 10 men both before their arrival in Ireland and after they flew into the State last week.

No drugs were landed in west Cork with Gardaí unclear if the mission was aborted due to gang fears over police surveillance or poor sea conditions in the area.

Several of the men are believed to have panicked when they were approached by a dog walker in a high-visibility vest and mistakenly confused them with a police officer – and their suspicious behaviour then prompted a phone call to the Gardaí from a member of the public.

Ten men were arrested in a major Garda operation in west Cork with a camper van and articulated lorry also being seized.

A Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) with powerful outboard engines is also being examined.

It is understood one of the Dutch-based individuals is known to police in several European countries for his associations with key members of an international drugs gang.

The arrests involved Cork-based Garda units as well as the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau.

The Garda deployment involved multiple vehicles deployed throughout Leap, Tragumna and Skibbereen as well as searches conducted nationally.

A second vehicle, an articulated lorry, was also stopped and examined by Gardaí as part of the operation.

Several of those detained by Gardaí are experienced sub aqua personnel who are understood to be Spanish-based.

Garda sources said a number of key individuals had been under surveillance for some time in respect of activity linked to suspected drug smuggling and distribution.

One source indicated that the operation was entirely intelligence-led and co-ordinated with several European police forces.

It represented the culmination of months of undercover work and surveillance by Garda anti-drug units.

The Coast Guard and Naval Service are now liaising with Gardaí in respect of specific vessel movements off the south west coast over the past week.

Radar records and port data is being examined to determine precisely which vessels were off the west Cork coast over the past fortnight.

Gardaí are being assisted by Interpol and police in the UK, France, Spain and the Netherlands.

Several of the arrests involved individuals who were found soaking wet after apparently being in local estuaries and inshore areas.

One element of the Garda investigation is whether drug consignments may have been dumped into the sea at specific locations off the south west coast for later retrieval.

These consignments – which are waterproofed and electronically tagged – are then suspected to have been accessed by divers when it was believed it was safe to bring the drugs ashore in smaller units.

Ireland’s south west coast has a long history of drug smuggling operations with some of the biggest cocaine seizures in European history occurring in the area.

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