The biggest drugs seizure in the history of the State proves the country is not a soft touch for traffickers, the Minister for Justice has said.
Helen McEntee said Ireland was “very much in the game” in efforts to prevent drug shipments from South America entering Europe.
Police believe the €157 million haul of cocaine captured onboard a cargo ship after a dramatic military operation at sea was destined for distribution beyond Ireland, potentially into the UK and continental Europe.
A total of 2,253kg of cocaine was found on the Panamanian-registered vessel after an elite Army unit stormed it by abseiling from a helicopter.
Ms McEntee was asked whether traffickers were attempting to use Ireland to enter Europe, given the State currently only has two Naval Service vessels in service to patrol the large expanse of its territorial waters.
One of those patrol vessels, the LE William Butler Yeats, fired warning shots in the direction of the MV Matthew after it failed to obey orders during Tuesday’s capture mission.
“I think what’s clear from this week’s find is that Ireland is anything but a soft touch,” Minister McEntee told reporters as she attended a meeting in Brussels.
“This is a seizure worth €158 million worth of cocaine. This was an operation led by An Garda Síochána but working collaboratively with our Defence Forces, our Naval Services, Revenue and Customs, but also with intelligence from our counterparts right across the water and right across Europe.
“So what it shows is that we are very much in the game, that we are very much part of a joint effort to take down these organised crime gangs.”
Six men have been arrested for questioning about the MV Matthew drugs haul.
Members of the highly trained Army Ranger Wing descended by fast-rope from a helicopter on to the vessel as it tried to sail out of Irish waters and evade capture on Tuesday.
The ship had been under surveillance since Friday when a multi-agency operation responded to intelligence of a major international drug smuggling bid.
Given the scale of the haul, authorities do not believe the cocaine was solely destined for Ireland.
They suspect the drugs, supplied by a South American cartel, were for distribution across Europe.
The MV Matthew was escorted to Cork harbour on Tuesday.
A fishing trawler that grounded off the coast of Co Wicklow late on Sunday was also being monitored as part of the operation, amid suspicions it was en route to rendezvous with the cargo ship.
The vessel remains stuck on a sandbank out at sea with poor conditions preventing the authorities from boarding and searching it.
It will be treated as a crime scene when it is accessed, officers said.
Gardaí have said such a large shipment would not have entered the State’s waters without the involvement of an Irish gang.
