Gardaí believe they have disrupted the activities of a major international drug smuggling gang after they arrested 10 men in west Cork whom they suspect were in the area to try to land a consignment of cocaine from a ship offshore.
Officers from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau along with officers from the Cork County Divisional Drug Unit arrested the 10 suspected gang members in Leap and Tragumna villages near Skibbereen in west Cork at about 7.30am on Thursday.
No drugs were recovered.
Gardaí arrested six of the suspects after stopping a foreign-registered camper van in the middle of Leap.
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Officers also arrested three other men travelling in a 4x4 and another man who was leaving Tragumna in an articulated lorry which had aroused local suspicions when it pulled into the car park near the Skibbereen Eagle pub at about midnight on Wednesday.
“We never see articulated lorries in Tragumna – the road into the village is very narrow and there is no reason for an artic to come down there so when this one arrived in late and pulled up in the car park, people became very suspicious,” one local said.
Gardaí stopped the foreign-registered lorry and found a Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) fitted with three high-powered engines in the trailer. It is believed the gang had intended to use the boat to head out from Tragumna to collect drugs from a ship somewhere off the coast.
Gardaí suspect the gang launched the boat and put to sea but were forced to abandon their mission because of rough seas. It is believed they returned ashore, put the boat back in the trailer and were leaving Tragumna when gardaí apprehended them.
A source said all six suspects arrested in Leap were still wearing wet clothes when they were arrested.
Gardaí believe that the 10 men – six Spaniards, two Dutch nationals, one Serbian and one man from Northern Ireland, ranging in age from their mid 20s to their mid 50s – are members of an international gang involved in the supply and distribution of drugs into Europe from South America.
They were all arrested on suspicion of being members of an Organised Crime Group and were detained under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007 which allows gardaí to hold suspects for up to seven days before they must be either charged or released.
The suspects are being held at Bandon and Bantry Garda stations in west Cork, the Bridewell and Togher Garda stations in Cork city and Mallow Garda Station in north Cork.
Meanwhile, the camper van and articulated lorry were taken to a secure location near Cork city where Customs officers were due to examine them with scanners and x-ray equipment to see if they contained any concealed drugs. It is expected that Garda scenes of crimes examiners will also examine both vehicles for any DNA or fingerprint evidence.
Gardaí and customs are also liaising with the Naval Service and with law enforcement agencies in other countries to try and identify the ship that was carrying the drugs for the aborted rendezvous.
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