Eight men caught with €157m of cocaine smuggled on MV Matthew are jailed for 129 years
The six men caught on board the MV Matthew with 2.2 tonnes of cocaine and two others who attempted to take the illicit load on board a second vessel in the Irish Sea have been jailed for a combined 129 years.
Ukrainians Mykhailo Gavryk (32) and Vitaliy Vlasoi (33); Iranians Soheil Jelveh (52) and Saeid Hassani (39); Filipino Harold Estoesta (31); and Dutch national Cumali Ozgen (50) previously pleaded guilty that between September 24 and 26 2023, both dates inclusive, at locations outside the State, on board the vessel "MV Matthew" they possessed cocaine for sale or supply contravention of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations. The drugs have been valued at €157 million.
Today's News in 90 Seconds - July 4th
Ukrainian national Vitaliy Lapa (62), with an address at Rudenka, Repina Str in Berdyansk, and Jamie Harbron (31) of South Avenue, Billingham in the UK pleaded guilty that on dates between September 21 and 25, 2023, at a location within the State, he attempted to possess cocaine for the purpose of selling or otherwise supplying to another, in contravention of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2017 to 2023, made under section 5 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 and at the time when the controlled drug was in his possession, the market value was €13,000 or more.
Ms Justice Melanie Greally today sentenced Ozgen to 20 years in prison; Estoesta to 18 years; Jelveh to 17.5 years; Vlasoi to 16.5 years; Hassani to 15 years; Gavryk to 14 years; Lapa to 14.5 years and Harbron to 13.5 years.
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.
The court also heard that an organised crime group in Dubai instructed the crew of the MV Matthew as it attempted to evade law enforcement and deliver the drugs to an Irish vessel.
Despite repeated warnings from the Irish Navy, including warning shots fired from the LE William Butler Yeats, the person overseeing the operation told the crew to keep going and head for a safe port in Sierra Leone.
The original plan was that the 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 later to run aground.
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Sunday World
2 hours ago
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Video showing how gardai tracked €115m cocaine shipment on MV Matthew is released
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Sunday World
8 hours ago
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Porn actor beat Irishman 13 times with hammer after killing partner during sex, trial told
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Mosquera caved in his skull by striking it with a hammer on nine different sites. The biggest injury site had been struck 'at least four' times, Woolwich Crown Court heard. As a result of the hammer smashing, Mr Longworth had multiple 'fragmented' fractures, 'some of the bone pieces had been pushed inwards. He then used the power tool to take Mr Longworth's head off and cut the rest of his body up. The remains of the two men were taken to Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol on 10 July. Police officers opened up the large suitcases to find the victims' body parts. One of the suitcases had a tag on it linking them back to an address on Scott's Road in Shepherd's Bush. Officers arrived at the address and found the heads of both Mr Longworth and Mr Alfonso inside a chest freezer. Forensic pathologist Dr Deborah Cook was asked for her conclusions after she performed a postmortem on Mr Longworth. She told the court the cause of death was 'blunt force trauma to the head.' 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Dr Cook made it clear that his alcohol level would not have impeded him though and that was clear due to the defence injuries to his hand. She said: 'The type of injuries on the right hand are what we call defence-type injuries. The hand comes up to the head to protect it and the hammer then strikes the hand, causing those injuries. He would not have been incapacitated through alcohol and those defence injuries show he was able to move his hand to protect himself. If he is a regular drinker, he may not have experienced any effects from a blood alcohol level of 114.' Mr Longworth's head was found with the upper set of dentures still in place. He was of a 'reasonably heaby build' and had a 41-inch waist, the pathologist said. He was found to have chronic liver disease, known as cirrhosis, but the exact cause of that could not be confirmed by the pathologist. After he died, Mr Longworth's body was cut up by Mosquera, using a combination of a knife and a power tool, it was said. 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Irish Examiner
15 hours ago
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MV Matthew crew were no mere cogs — they played a vital role in cocaine trafficking venture
Sailors sentenced to prison for their involvement in major international drug trafficking through Ireland were not mere cogs in the wheel but vital parts of the engine that drives international drug trafficking, a court has heard. Eight men have been sentenced to a combined 129 years in prison for their role in a drug trafficking operation that was intercepted and resulted in the largest cocaine seizure in the history of the State. Guilty pleas among mitigating factors Justice Melanie Greally initially set combined headline sentences for the men at 203 years at the Special Criminal Court on Friday. But she reduced each man's sentence due to multiple mitigating factors, including their guilty pleas. The MV Matthew, owned by a Dubai-based company, was raided at gunpoint by Ireland's elite Army Ranger Wing in rough seas off the Cork coast in September 2023. Eight men from the crew of 21 were ultimately charged with drug trafficking offences. Justice Greally sentenced the men according to their hierarchy and culpability in the operation. However, she accepted that none of the accused were operating in the higher echelons of the organised crime group which was directing the operation remotely. And the crew would not stand to profit from sales of the drugs. 'Committed to the success of the venture' However, all convicted men, apart from Jamie Harbron and Cumali Ozgen had high levels of seafaring expertise. And maritime drug trafficking cannot take place without that, Justice Greally said. They are not cogs in the wheel but vital parts of the engine that drives international drug trafficking, she said. They had proven competence and had a high level of trust within the operation, Justice Greally said. She added: We consider each man committed to the success of the venture. Ukrainians Mykhailo Gavryk, and Vitaliy Vlasoi, both 32; Iranians Soheil Jelveh, 51, and Saeid Hassani, 39; Filipino Harold Estoesta, 31, and Dutch national Cumali Ozgen, 49, all pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine for sale or supply on board the MV Mathew between 24 and 26 September 2023. Ukrainian national Vitaliy Lapa, aged 62, with an address at Rudenka, Repina Str in Berdyansk, and Jamie Harbron, aged 31, of South Avenue, Billingham in the UK, pleaded guilty to attempting to possess cocaine for sale or supply between 21 and 25 September 2023. MV Honmon renamed to MV Matthew The 190m bulk cargo ship was initially called the MV Honmon but had its name changed to the MV Matthew before the drug trafficking operation, directed by a powerful cartel with unlimited resources and international reach. Its registered owner was a company based in the Marshall Islands but the company that ultimately owned it was a company called Symphony Marine based in Dubai, Justice Greally noted. It was designed to carry bulk cargo like grain, with five cargo holds. But it left the coast of Venezuela empty. Crew distracted with barbecue and alcohol Armed men loaded the ship with cocaine at night off the coast of Venezuela when most of the crew had been distracted with a barbecue on board and plied with alcohol. A small number of the MV Matthew crew were used to load the cocaine while at sea in September 2023. Despite the 2.2 tonne load, worth some €157m, only one of the five cargo holds was used to store it initially. The containers it was stored in looked like 'matchboxes in a car boot,' the court heard. The ship was moored in Venezuela in August, undergoing preparations for the voyage. It set sail in September 2023, with its stated destination as Gdansk in Poland. But it travelled around the northwest African coast, past the Canaries, the Bay of Biscay, and on to the Irish sea. Ship's true location was 'spoofed' Mr Jelveh was the captain, Vlasoi was second in command, Estoesta and Gavryk were second officers, and Hassani was the third officer. Ozgen, previously described in court as the eyes and ears of the cartel, was the lowest-ranking and not an officer but occupied the most important cabin by the bridge. This was due to his 'supervisory function' for the cartel, the court heard. For 15 days, the MV Matthew misrepresented its place at sea in an operation known as 'spoofing,' where a vessel's stated course differs from their real course. Drug traffickers often use this technique, Justice Greally noted. Crew members aware of the deception Crew involved in a number of WhatsApp and Signal groups used to communicate with those directing the operation from Dubai, were aware of this spoofing, referencing aborting the necessary navigation software, Justice Greally noted. When the ship claimed it was steaming past Trinidad and Tobago, it was actually still off Venezuela, she said. Gardaí monitored 'persons of interest' Meanwhile, retired fisherman Ukrainian Vitaliy Lapa had been monitored with two persons of interest to gardaí in Ireland. One of these persons of interest bought the fishing vessel the Castelmore from Castletownbere in West Cork, with more than €300,000 transferred from a company based in Dubai for the purchase. Mr Lapa and Jamie Harbron set sail on September 22, 2023. In communications about the operation, the MV Matthew was referred to as 'big bus'. A 'jumbo load' would be collected from the 'big bus' which may take some balancing. Its weight of 2.2T was specified. Encrypted messaging A Starlink satellite system installed on the fishing boat was to allow communications through encrypted messaging apps about the drug transfer from mother ship to daughter ship. But the Castlemore hit rough weather, suffered wifi failure and its engine failed. Lapa, an experienced fisherman from Ukraine, spoke little English and he and Harbron communicated with the help of online translation tools. Meanwhile, Captain Jelveh was complaining of unfavourable sea conditions to someone directing the operation from Dubai via WhatsApp and Signal communications. Unhappy about the choice of volatile Irish waters to transfer the cargo, he complained to his paymasters in Dubai. He was also concerned about the Matthew's straying from its stated course. In one message, he wrote: I'd rather go to prison but I won't stay in a storm. Meanwhile, with no wifi and a failing engine, the Castlemore was directed to hug the Irish coast and use its VHF radio for communications and turn on its vessel identification system (VIS) so it could meet the 'big bus'. A voice directing the operation from off the boat through encrypted messaging apps announced that he would take over as the captain remotely from Jelveh on September 24, 2023. Castlemore's distress call A distress call was made from the Castelmore to the coastguard after 11pm after it ran aground on a sandbank off Wexford in stormy seas. Lapa and Harbron were rescued by helicopter and were later arrested. A phone seized from Lapa when analysed showed the Castlemore intended meeting with MV Matthew. 'For some hours, the fate of the Castelmore was unknown to the crew on the MV Matthew,' Justice Greally said. But the level of emergency was clear from its communication with the coastguard, picked up by the MV Matthew via radio. Directing the operation from off the ship, a person, often referred to as 'captain Noah', announced that the plan was changing. The drugs were to be sent ashore in a lifeboat with Ozgen on September 25, 2023. "Cumali Ozgen will be the commander of the boat, teach him disengaging,' a message said. Ozgen was the only MV Matthew crew member with no real seafaring experience. Crew commented in messaging apps that he would never be able to manage the lifeboat, loaded with drugs on his own. 'Better for us, worse thing to have him on board,' one person commented. Another person said: 'He will go all bad demons will go.' Ozgen was feared on the boat as the direct operative for the cartel, crew said. The former captain, Jelveh, said he was put on the ship to murder him. The Dutchman of Turkish origin was never lowered onto rough seas at night in the life raft heavy with more than 2.2 tonnes of cocaine. But he did receive the heaviest sentence of all the crew. Headline sentence reduced to 20 years His headline sentence of 30 years was reduced to 20 years partially because he pleaded guilty, saving the State time and resources, Justice Greally said. Former captain Jelveh called for a medical evacuation from the MV Matthew after the Castlemore ran aground, taking suitcases, three mobile phones, a satellite phone and more than $53,000 with him. But he was arrested and analysis of his phone proved useful for the investigation. MV Matthew monitored in Irish waters Meanwhile, the MV Matthew was being monitored by Irish authorities as it moved within Irish territorial waters and the contiguous zone, an area further from shore where Irish authorities still have some legal rights to board a vessel. The ship had dropped anchor, claiming it needed to carry out repairs as it stalled while trying to concoct a new plan to transfer the drugs. But the LÉ William Butler Yeats naval ship was monitoring the MV Matthew. It became apparent that the MV Matthew was not conducting engine repairs. The MV Matthew was trying to increase its distance from land, wrongly believing that Irish authorities then could not board the vessel. LÉ William Butler Yeats in 'hot pursuit' When the MV Matthew repeatedly failed to comply with Irish customs orders, the LÉ William Butler Yeats announced it was in 'hot pursuit' of the vessel. It announced it was a warship and fired shots when the Matthew continued to evade its orders. Estoesta radioed the ship, claiming they were just a commercial vessel, the crew was crying in fear, he said, they had families and they did not want trouble. But at the same time, he was taking direction from Dubai, being told to head with speed south out of Irish waters and to travel "with full speed" towards Sierra Leone. Incorrect information from Dubai "They have talked too much, show them some real action," the voice from Dubai said, encouraging the crew to ignore the Irish authorities. "Be confident, there is a law preventing them from boarding," the Dubai voice wrongly advised. He then wished them 'bon voyage'. Crew tried to burn the drugs as the Army Ranger Wing approached in a helicopter, using accelerants like paint thinner to intensify the flames. Army Rangers boarded the MV Matthew As the army rangers tried to board the vessel, abseiling from a helicopter on a rope, the MV Matthew swerved and manoeuvred at speed to try to evade them, further endangering the rangers' lives. But they boarded the vessel and extinguished the flames on the drugs, preserving the evidence, and took control of the ship. Phones seized from the men on board proved crucial to the investigation, giving second-by-second accounts of the drug trafficking plan, and its sudden unravelling at sea in high swells. The men denied knowing the ship was carrying drugs initially. But they admitted growing suspicious when armed men unloaded the cargo off the coast of Venezuela at night, and when they saw the cargo, which was clearly not 'spare parts' as they said they were told. All men said they flew to Dubai for interviews and later to Venezuela to board the MV Matthew on lucrative contracts. When they raised concerns about the cargo, they said they were told they'd be paid bonuses to stay quiet. 'Terrified and alone' Hassani said he was 'just following orders and was scared for his life." Financial necessity, caring for his daughter and sick and injured sisters in Iran had driven him to take the job, he said. Estoesta said he was 'terrified and alone at sea' and felt he had to do what was asked of him by the shadowy voices in Dubai once he was aboard. He said he was responsible for communications on board only because of his strong command of English. Letters were sent from loved ones about the accused's kindness, loyalty and academic achievements were sent to the court. Ozgen grew up in a socially deprived community in Holland where survival was the law of the street, one letter said. He was caring for his son who had multiple operations for brain tumours and made 'risky choices to provide a better future to his family." Gavryk was described by his former schools as a serious and motivated student, a detail-orientated specialist who was also an attentive friend. Vlasoi was a devoted father whose wife was now trying to care for their child alone. Estoesta had excelled academically and was from an educated, respected family, many of whom successfully served their country in the air force, law and medicine. Hassani was trying to provide for his family which had led to indebtedness. Harbron was the only crew with previous convictions, two of which were for drugs. But he came from a disadvantaged background, suffered violence in his family as a child and had drug and alcohol abuse and mental health issues, the court heard. However, he was a caring father and partner, the court heard. Lapa's hometown in Ukraine was under occupation and he was forced out of retirement as a mariner in the fishing industry to work out of financial necessity. His family is at risk of losing their home, the court heard. Mitigating and aggravating factors Justice Greally took these accounts into consideration. But she said that in addition to mitigation, there were serious aggravating factors in their cases. One aggravating factor was the scale of criminal organisation they were working for. Another was the "vast quantity of drugs" involved and their considerable value. Another aggravating factor was the type of drug itself and the "widespread social harm" cocaine does. Ozgen was given the heaviest sentence as he was most deeply involved with the organised crime group, she said. He provided the crime organisation with progress reports every two to three days and was a "malign and intimidatory presence" on the ship. But Estoesta had the second heaviest sentence because he "persistently defied orders" from Irish Customs and naval officers. He was no longer 'alone at sea' but when faced with a binary choice of cooperating with authorities or taking orders from an organised crime group, he sided with the OCG and tried to escape with the drugs to Sierra Leone before a "last gasp effort" to destroy the evidence, Justice Greally said. Vlasoi had the third heaviest sentence as the de facto captain aboard at the time of the ship's interception, he was responsible for "vigorously moving the boat" while the army rangers tried to board, endangering their lives. Ozgen was given a headline sentence of 30 years, Estoesta received a headline sentence of 28 years; Jelveh was given 27 years; Vlasoi was given 26; Hassani received 24 years; Gavryk 23 years; Lapa 23 years and Harbron to 22 years. But guilty pleas and other mitigating factors saw these sentences reduced. Dutch national Cumali Ozgen, age 49, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Filipino Harold Estoesta, 31, was sentenced to 18 years. The captain, Iranian Soheil Jelveh, 51, was sentenced to 17.5 years. Ukrainian Vitaliy Vlasoi, 32, was sentenced to 16.5 years. Iranian Saeid Hassani, 39, was sentenced to 15 years. Ukrainians Mykhailo Gavryk, 32, was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Ukrainian national Vitaliy Lapa, aged 62, was sentenced to 14.5 years. And UK national Jamie Harbron was sentenced to 13.5 years.
