Tip off led gardaí to west Cork drug smuggling bid, court told

RTÉ News​

2 days ago

A rigid inflatable boat tried and failed to "rendezvous" with a ship off the south coast in an attempt to smuggle a large quantity of drugs into the country before a number of vehicles were intercepted by gardaí at Tragumna Pier in Cork following a tip off from a member of the public, a court has heard.
Ten men were arrested by gardai in March last year during operations in the villages of Tragumna and Leap near Skibbereen in west Cork, where a jeep, camper van, articulated truck, and rigid inflatable boat were seized as part of the suspected drug smuggling operation.
After gardaí intercepted the vehicles they discovered a large quantity of nautical equipment including satellite phones, GPS devices, radios and control panels and wetsuits.
The court heard that the ship the rigid inflatable boat (RIB) was attempting to "rendezvous" with, passed an area in Denmark in mid-March and 840 kilos of cocaine valued at between €58 million and €59 million was subsequently found washed up in the area.
Five men - Juan Antonio Gallardo Barroso, aged 56, of no fixed address in Spain, Mario Angel Del Rio Sanz, aged 45, of no fixed abode but from Spain; Anuar Rahui Chairi, aged 42, of Malaga in Spain; Aleksandar Milic, aged 27, with an address in Belgrade in Serbia; Kiumaars Ghabiri, aged 52, with an address in Rotterdam in the Netherlands have previously pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to import drugs.
At the Special Criminal Court yesterday two co-accused - Pedro Pablo Ojeda Ortega, aged 36, of Cadiz and Angel Serran Padilla, aged 40, of Malaga - pleaded guilty to a charge that they conspired with their co-accused to do an act in the State that constitutes a serious offence, namely the importation of controlled drugs in excess of €13,000 on dates between 27 February and 14 March 2024, both dates inclusive, within the State. The offence is contrary to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977.
Men were 'nervous' and 'evasive'
Inspector Joseph Young gave evidence to Tessa White BL that on Tuesday 27 February 2024 gardaí were conducting a checkpoint at Gully in Bandon, Co Cork and stopped two men - an Irish national and a foreign national - in a car.
Gardaí noted the men were "nervous" and "evasive" and decided to carry out a search which led to the two men being brought to Bandon Garda Station.
During the course of the search, a notepad was found in the vehicle with coordinates for Dromadoon Pier and Rosscarbery Pier, as well as details for six Airbnb and rental properties.
On 12 March 2024, gardaí received confidential information about suspicious activity at Tragumna Pier. A member of the public observed what he believed to be suspicious activity when he saw an articulated truck reversing down and a camper van and other vehicles including a black Land Rover and a white transit van about 50 metres away.
Inspector Young said Tragumna Pier is located between the two piers referenced in the note found in the car and is located about 8km south of Skibereen town and 15km from the village of Leap.
A number of vehicles, including a blue Scania articulated truck, a black Land Rover Discovery jeep and a campervan were identified as being of interest. The jeep and the campervan were observed at a hotel in the area.
An operation was put in place to monitor the vehicles, a property rented on Airbnb and a number of people "coming and going".
Enquiries were ongoing in what was a large-scale operation both nationally and internationally and the suspicion at that point was of a criminal enterprise of drugs importation.
Inspector Young said a ship known as the Cool Explorer - a legitimate ship with legitimate cargo - had left Ecuador some weeks earlier. He said the ship was a Panama flagged vessel and was due to arrive at its intended destination of St Petersburg in Russia on 17 March.
In the course of its route, the ship was to pass within 30 nautical miles of Land's End in the UK around 12 March.
Almost €60m of cocaine washed up in Denmark
Inspector Young said on 14 March, going into 15 March, the ship passed an area in Denmark known as Sjaellands Odde.
A total fo 840 kilos of cocaine valued at between €58 million and €59 million was subsequently found washed up in the area.
The coordinates of the cocaine matched the coordinates being used by the Cool Explorer in its voyage.
On 14 March 2024, shortly after midnight, the campervan was observed leaving an Airbnb rental near Leap and entering the Tragumna area. At around 5am the Land Rover and articulated truck also appeared at the slipway at Tragumna and 10 minutes later a black RIB was observed.
The people from the RIB and those on the pier who had alighted from the three vehicles interacted and a number of holdall bags were transferred from the RIB to the pier.
There was an attempt to put the boat onto the trailer and then back into the truck but there appeared to be some difficulty with the manoeuvre and as a consequence the engine and the back of the RIB were still sticking out of the trailer.
The campervan left the pier just before 6.45am and the articulated truck moved up the slipway slightly but remained at the site.
At 7.20am, an interdiction was carried out on the white camper van and five of the defendants - Juan Antonio Gallardo Barroso, Aleksander Milic, Pedro Pablo Ojeda Ortega, Angel Serran Padilla and Anuar Rahui Chairi - and one other man were detained, and the vehicle was seized.
A further intervention took place at the pier where the articulated truck and trailer and the black Land Rover were still in place and a number of arrests were made at that location also.
Ms White said it is the prosecution's case that the intention was that the RIB would "rendezvous" with the Cool Explorer.
Inspector Young said the investigation teams belief was that a "rendezvous" or what is known as a "sea drop off" would occur.
He said the campervan, which was hired in the Armagh area, had a GPS tracker and had been driven from the north of Ireland to the south. He said the Land Rover had been stolen in Glasgow the previous December and was fitted with false registration plates.
The Scania truck which transported the RIB had Bulgarian plates and belonged to a company in Northern Ireland which had a sister company in Bulgaria. He said Sean Curran, aged 37, with an address at Carrickyheenan, Aughnacloy, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh was employed by this company as a truck driver.
A large number of items of nautical equipment were found in the campervan and in an Airbnb rental. A significant number of dry suits and wet suits and a quantity of electronic devices were also seized along with more than 30 mobile phones including satellite phones.
Inspector Young told the court that satellite phones can operate independent of any land masses so are capable of working at sea.
Other items included GPS devices, radios and control panels, a high frequency detector and binoculars.
Former naval officer Gary Delany, acting in a consultancy role, examined the RIB and found it was fitted with three 300 horsepower engines and a large amount of fuel.
He noted the central control panel and the Garmin radar dome had all been painted black and there was only one light on the RIB itself that was not very visible. No radar reflector was fitted which would be standard for a vessel of this type.
"His description was that it was for the purposes of detecting but not being detected," Inspector Young said.
A Garmin GPS on the console of the RIB and two GPS from the campervan were seized and Mr Delaney established from those that the RIB had been at the pier at 5am on the morning in question.
He confirmed that the intention was to "rendezvous" with the Cool Explorer that morning.
Inspector Young said the devices on the console contained 27 waypoints. He said waypoints can be an intended destination or a place you have been and can be input of "traversing or travelling in that direction".
He said the waypoints of the RIB and the entirety of its journey - spanning 985km over the course of just under 48 hours - showed an attempt to travel towards the path of the Cool Explorer. He said it changed course on two occasions in an effort to interdict the passage of the ship.
He said when the RIB was about 50km from Lizard Point in the UK it turned back. At that point it was still some 100km away from the position of the Cool Explorer.
The sentencing hearing continues today.
Earlier yesterday, counsel for three other co-accused, Ali Ghasemi Mazidi, aged 50, with an address in the Netherlands; Sean Curran, aged 37, with an address at Carrickyheenan, Aughnacloy, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh and Raul Tabares Garcia, aged 48, of Cadiz in Spain said their clients were seeking trial dates.
Ms Justice Karen O'Connor said the court would list the matter for mention on Monday 28 July with a view to listing a trial date at that time.