Two men due in court following €31m drugs seizure in west Cork
The two men, a 40-year-old from Glasgow in Scotland and a 31-year-old German from Bavaria, were arrested in Courtmacsherry in west Cork on Tuesday after gardaí stopped a van with 440kg of cocaine.
The arrests were part of an investigation by the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau into the activities of an international organised crime group involved in drug smuggling.
The two men were brought to Bandon Garda station for questioning about the huge cocaine haul which consisted of 18 vacuum packed bales of cocaine, each weighing 25kg.
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The men were held under drugs trafficking legislation which allows garda hold suspects for seven days. However, the gardaí received directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions on Wednesday night to charge both men.
They are due to be brought to Bandon District Court this Thursday morning where they will be charged with a series of drug offences relating to the Courtmacsherry seizure.
As part of the same operation, two other men were apprehended aboard a Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) off Waterford by a Maritime Interdiction Team from the Naval Service on Tuesday. They are continuing to be questioned by gardaí about the drugs haul.
The two men, a 44-year-old Englishman from Cornwall and a 36-year-old-Scot from Aberdeenshire, were taken aboard the LE WB Yeats after the boarding party stopped them.
The two men were then conveyed to the naval base at Haulbowline where they were handed over to gardaí who arrested them and brought them to Togher Garda station for questioning.
Both men are detained under drugs trafficking legislation and can be detained for up to seven days before they must be charged in relation to the drugs or released without charge.
Garda investigations into the drug smuggling operation are continuing with officers liaising with their colleagues in the UK in a bid to find out more about the gang behind the operation.
The drugs seizure was a Joint Task Force operation involving several specialist Garda units as well Revenue's customs and excise officers and members of the Irish Naval Service.
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