London: Dramatic footage of the daring operation which led to the seizure of Ireland’s largest drugs haul onboard a container ship has been released to the public.
It follows the sentencing of eight men on Friday following the seizure of 2.2 tonnes of cocaine with a value of $184 million in September 2023.
The drugs were seized after the Irish Army Ranger Wing boarded the vessel from helicopters in an interception conducted while the crew attempted to steer the ship to high seas.
Eight men admitted their roles in trying to smuggle cocaine as part of a massive drug trafficking operation.
A range of material relating to the investigation has now been made public, including audio recordings between the captain of the container ship and the Irish Naval Service which was in “hot pursuit” of the criminals.
That pursuit included the firing of warning shots by the Naval Service before the Army Ranger Wing boarded the vessel. The aerial footage and audio recordings detail a dramatic operation carried out at sea in gale force winds and involving Ireland’s joint task force on drugs interdiction, which includes the Irish police service An Garda Siochana, Revenue, and the Defence Forces.
The operation also involved the Coast Guard and international partners including Interpol and the Maritime Analysis And Operations Centre (Narcotics). The newly published material shows how the Panama-flagged MV Matthew entered Irish territorial waters on September 23 2023 - having set off from Curacao, an island off the coast of Venezuela. Unbeknown to the crew, suspicions about its activities had been relayed to An Garda Siochana and the drugs and organised crime bureau was monitoring the ship. (PA Media/dpa)
