A man has been charged in London today in relation to the €404 million Dunlough Bay, Co Cork, cocaine smuggling plot.
Stephen Brown (45) made a brief appearance at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in connection with the trafficking of the 1,500kg in drugs from Ireland to the United Kingdom in the summer of 2007.
Court officials confirmed Brown, who is accused of conspiring to import the 62 bales of high-grade Class A drugs into the UK, was remanded in custody.
The charge alleges he plotted with two other men to supply the drug to dealers across Britain.
Court officials said Brown, of no fixed address and who was flown from Madrid to Heathrow yesterday morning, will face trial in the Crown Court and is due before Southwark Court on July 3rd. He had been detained in Spain on a European arrest warrant.
The transatlantic smuggling plan foundered on a summer morning five years ago as the 62 bales were being offloaded in Dunlough Bay off Mizen Head in southwest Cork from a catamaran called the Lucky Day on to a smaller boat.
One of the gang members filled the powerful outboard engines on the rigid inflatable boat (Rib) with diesel instead of petrol and the motors cut out, leaving the boat at the mercy of heavy seas. The cocaine was found to have a purity level of more than 75 per cent, and was traced to the Medellin area of Colombia.
Michael Joseph Daly - an ex-detective sergeant in the London Metropolitan Police drugs squad - and Alan John Wells were jailed for 22 years and 14 years, respectively, for their roles in the conspiracy plot after trials in Britain.
Others jailed over the smuggling plot were Daly’s brother Joe, sentenced to 25 years, and Perry Wharrie and Martin Wanden, both handed 30-year sentences after a trial in Cork.
Gerard Hagan, of Hollowcroft, Liverpool, who swam to safety when the boat’s engine cut out, pleaded guilty and was jailed for 10 years.
PA