Irish Army rangers put their lives at risk when they boarded the MV Matthew in treacherous weather while the crew of the vessel manoeuvred to evade capture, the Special Criminal Court has heard.
Det Supt Keith Halley told a sentencing hearing on Tuesday that it took “great bravery” to board the vessel, but despite the danger the rangers reacted quickly to prevent the 2.25 tonnes of cocaine on board from being destroyed by fire in September 2023.
The court also heard an organised crime group in Dubai instructed the crew of the ship as it attempted to evade law enforcement and deliver the drugs to an Irish vessel.
Despite repeated warnings from the Irish Naval Service, including warning shots, the person overseeing the operation told the crew to keep going and head for Sierra Leone, west Africa.
The original plan was that MV Matthew would deliver the drugs to a second ship, The Castlemore, but rough seas and technical difficulties caused the Irish vessel to miss the connection and it later run aground, with the two men on board winched on to the LE William Butler Yeats.
Eight people were before the court on Tuesday for a sentencing hearing, having previously pleaded guilty to offences arising out of the seizure of an estimated €157 million worth of cocaine on board.
Those appearing in front of the three-judge non-jury court were: Ukrainians Mykhailo Gavryk (32) and Vitaliy Vlasoi (33); Iranians Soheil Jelveh (52) and Saeid Hassani (39); Filipino Harold Estoesta (31); Dutch national Cumali Ozgen (50); Ukrainian national Vitaliy Lapa (62); and Jamie Harbron (31), of South Avenue, Billingham, in the UK.
The court previously heard that while the MV Matthew was sailing under the flag of Panama, it was owned by a Dubai-based company known as Symphony Marine. It departed from Curacao, off the Venezuelan coast, and sailed across the Atlantic before arriving in Irish territorial waters.
Det Supt Halley said he was working with the Drug and Organised Crime Bureau in 2023 and was part of a multinational effort to disrupt drug trafficking networks using intelligence reports from agencies around the world.
Through that, the MV Matthew was identified as potentially being used to transport drugs across the Atlantic.
The vessel used a technique called “spoofing” to misrepresent its real location as it travelled from Venezuela and picked up the drugs at sea, using a crane to lift the heavy bales from one vessel to the other.
On the afternoon of September 26th, 2023, the ship appeared to be heading for the open sea and a Naval Service commander took over the operation and issued several warnings.
Mr Estoesta messaged the Naval Service saying they wanted to co-operate, but they were scared. To his crew he demanded they “prepare for fire”. Det Halley said this was a clear instruction to destroy all the drugs.
When the Army helicopter appeared, the MV Matthew began to manoeuvre to prevent the rangers from boarding. The movements of the ship made it almost impossible for the helicopter to position itself to allow for a safe boarding.
Despite what they faced, the Army rangers boarded safely, saw the fire and put it out, Det Halley said.
The sentencing hearing continues.
