Notorious Sinaloa Cartel suspected to be behind plot to export €32m of crystal meth from Ireland

The Sinaloa Cartel, the infamous Mexican drugs gang, are suspected of being behind a €32m seizure of crystal meth in Cork on Friday morning.

The cartel, who have senior facilitators based in Co Kerry, are suspected of being behind a plot to export 546kg of the drug found in a container at Cork Port.

Gardaí are investigating if the crystal meth was produced in a lab in Ireland by the Kerry gang and it is by far the largest seizure of the deadly drug in the history of the State.

The drugs are believed to have been controlled by the notorious Sinaloa cartel – the European operation of which is headed by Kerry man Morris O’Shea Salazar.

According to sources, the crystal meth was being exported from Ireland and destined for Australia where illegal drugs are sold at much higher prices than in Europe.

“This is being controlled by the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico – the drugs were due to be exported from Ireland,” a source told the Sunday World.

“The Munster-based gang who have been working with the Mexican cartel have been watched for a long time.”

“It will be a huge blow to them and while the investigation is in its early stages, there can be no doubt that this has caused serious damage to them.”

“No crystal meth lab has yet been discovered as part of this investigation,” the source added.

Gardaí have confirmed that two men aged in their 40’s are in custody in relation to the bust and they are being held at a garda station in Co Kerry.

This includes a prominent businessman who was arrested in Tralee and another suspect who was arrested nearby.

The other man arrested is suspected of being involved in directing huge shipments of cocaine into Dublin Port for a number of years.

He is considered a close associate of Morris Salazar O’Shea, a 33-year-old Irish-Mexican citizen who has managed to rise to the top of the Sinaloa Cartel – despite being raised in Killorglin, Co Kerry.

The arrested man is the son of a Co Kerry political figure and answers directly to O’Shea Salazar, according to information obtained by international investigators.

The man, who is in his 40s, is known to gardaí but now poses as a legitimate businessman.

On Friday night, a motor business was also raided as part of the massive garda investigation.

As revealed in an exclusive Sunday World investigation last weekend, the same gang who previously answered directly to infamous Mexican narcotrafficker Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán’s son, conspired to smuggle up to 6,000kg of cocaine into Europe in just one year.

Gardaí announced details of the major operation which was led by detectives from Kerry in a statement on Friday afternoon.

Multiple garda units spent a number of hours searching a retail premises on Friday morning in Co Kerry where they made one of their arrests as part of detailed investigations into the drug seizure.

“Following a joint operation at Cork Port between An Garda Síochána and Revenue’s Customs Service, a substantial drugs seizure was made this morning, Friday, 16th February 2024,” a garda spokesman said.

“It is understood to be a synthetic drug, pending analysis.

“A number of follow up searches were conducted in Kerry and Cork resulting in the arrests of two men. The men, both aged in their 40s are currently detained at Garda Stations in the Southern Region under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007,” he added.

Crystal methamphetamine is an illegal drug that is not widely used in Ireland.

It is a colourless, odourless form of d-methamphetamine, a powerful and highly addictive synthetic stimulant.

The Co Kerry gang involved in the drugs seizure are long term targets for gardaí, including national units such as the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB).

A kilo of crystal meth is understood to cost the equivalent of around €200,000 in Australia meaning that the Sinaloa cartel and their Kerry based associates were due to make huge profits from the hundreds of kilos of the deadly drug that was seized at Cork Port.

Last weekend, it was revealed that intelligence documents from Spain detailed how the suspected mastermind of Friday’s massive drugs bust, Morris O’Shea Salazar, is in charge of the drugs trafficking ring for the group which has major Irish connections.

Although he was born in Mexico, O’Shea Salazar was raised in Killorglin, Co Kerry, where he went to school.

The DEA, Spanish police and Chilean law officials have named O’Shea Salazar as the head of the gang.

He is accused of running logistics for the cartel based out of a luxury apartment in Barcelona.

Chilean officials have now issued an extradition warrant for O’Shea Salazar and have named him in court proceedings. His mother and uncle are behind bars in relation to drug shipments.

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