Latest news with #IrishNavy
Sunday World
04-07-2025
- Sunday World
Eight men caught with €157m of cocaine smuggled on MV Matthew are jailed for 129 years
It departed from Curacao, off the Venezuelan coast and sailed across the Atlantic before arriving in Irish territorial waters. 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.
Extra.ie
04-07-2025
- Extra.ie
Eight men jailed over €157million MV Matthew cocaine haul
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. 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. A file image of the MV Matthew cargo vessel in Cork. Pic: Niall Carson/PA Wire Ms Justice Melanie Greally on Friday 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. A file image of a search on the MV Matthew cargo ship at Marino Port in Cork after it was seized by authorities in 2023. Pic: Niall Carson/PA Wire 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.
Irish Independent
23-06-2025
- General
- Irish Independent
The Indo Daily: Forty years on, how the 1985 Air India disaster shook the Irish navy recovery team to their core
It was a popular route, with 307 passengers and 22 crew on board. As the plane passed the south-west coast of Ireland, air-traffic controllers at Shannon Airport were in normal contact with the captain, but suddenly flight 182 vanished. The jumbo jet had crashed killing all on board. 132 bodies were eventually recovered. The Irish Navy were first to respond to the disaster with the vessel the LÉ Aisling, which was in the area on patrol. 'I put binoculars to my head and all I could see was the smoke. As we got closer, the first thing we saw then was the wheels of the aircraft, and then the bodies started coming up,' one of the Navy team said. Who carried out this terror attack? What did they want to achieve? And for the members of the Irish Navy who retrieved 132 bodies from the sea, how did that day change their lives? Today, on the Indo Daily, Fionnán Sheahan is joined by Terry Milewski, former news correspondent with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and by the Irish Independent's Saoirse Hanley, whose father was a member of the Navy crew who helped retrieve bodies after one of the world's deadliest terror attacks in history. Forty years on, are we closer to understanding what happened on that fateful day in 1985? The Indo Daily: Forty years on, how the 1985 Air India disaster shook the Irish navy recovery team to their core Podcasts" />
RTÉ News
15-06-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
Government awards contract to French company to develop sonar system
A government contract worth tens of millions of euro has been awarded to a French defence technology company to develop a new sonar system for Ireland. The towed sonar capability, when attached to an Irish naval vessel, will assist the Defence Forces with monitoring subsea areas in Ireland's Exclusive Economic Zone. It will help efforts to protect undersea communication cables and energy infrastructure, and also could assist in detecting illegal fishing, drug trafficking, terrorism and espionage in the future. The system is part of a wider project to boost maritime surveillance due to growing threats. The exclusive contract is with Thales DMS France, a company which specialises in advanced technologies in defence and security. The new sonar system is set to be operational in 2027. The Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Simon Harris said the investment will provide the naval service with a "state-of-the-art system, which will enable it to build a picture of our subsea". "It will serve as an important first step in creating a "pattern of life" in the subsea domain, with future projects further enhancing this capability" he said. French company Thales DMS France is currently leading a major European defence initiative that aims to strengthen the continent's capabilities in anti-submarine and seabed warfare. The SEACURE project is utilising a combination of air, surface, and underwater drones to detect and track underwater threats in challenging environments. However, there are worries about who will operate the new capabilities due to recruitment and retention problems within the Defence Forces, including the Irish Navy. Just one, or two, of the six vessel fleet can be out at sea due to staffing shortages. "Given the enhanced development of the blue economy and the exclusive economic zone that Ireland has, there's huge opportunity for delivery in terms of enhanced maritime security awareness. So the people are absolutely crucial, we don't want a stranded assets" said Marie Gleeson, Retired Lieutenant Commander with the Irish Navy. She said it is a really 'positive step forward' in terms of enhancing the navy's ability to patrol Ireland's maritime domain. "When I was a ship's captain, you patrolled very regularly, you want to maintain a presence in this really important area and not having the ability to see what was happening underneath the surface of the ocean was a restraint in some respects. I think it is hugely important from a strategic defence capability that we have the capacity to deploy towed sonar" she added. Ireland has one of the largest maritime Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) in the European Union. There are extensive undersea cables, sea fishing and energy production capacity and infrastructure in the waters. One of the biggest concerns is the safeguarding of these undersea cables which keeps everything from banking systems to TikTok operating. Marine expert and consultant, John Paul Kearns said the introduction of the new sonar system is a long time coming. "Once we develop our offshore wind we will have lots of pipelines and cables coming ashore and that infrastructure needs to be protected, monitored and surveyed all the time. Using this sonar and companies like Thales, and hopefully bringing it back in-house into Ireland, we can actually manage and monitor all of that" he said. "The reason we need to monitor it is we need to ensure that for one it's not being damaged in a mischievous or malevolent way. We have to make sure it's not damaged through storm damage. We have to make sure we can survey it… Because if you think of it… ten times the size of Ireland, underwater, is most of where the threat lies for the future" he said. In October 2024, then Tánaiste Micheál Martin said that there was a "risk" of sea cables being sabotaged following increased activity by the Russian navy and associated Russian merchant ships off the south and west coast of Ireland over the past number of years. The location of these vessels have raised concerns that undersea cables are being mapped. RTÉ News also reported in April that Minister for the Environment Darragh O'Brien has been warned that damage to Ireland's subsea gas interconnectors would have a catastrophic impact on the country's energy supply. Briefing papers and studies on energy security to the minister said that Ireland is highly vulnerable to the impact of gas supply disruptions and notes that a Russian naval vessel loitered over the Gas Networks Ireland subsea interconnector last November. Russia has denied that the presence of its military ships off the south, southwest and west coast of Ireland represent a threat. It comes as a public consultation on Ireland's first ever maritime security strategy was launched last week. The new strategy plans to map out Ireland's approach to maritime security and intends to look at how to deal and address emerging threats, vulnerabilities and protecting subsea infrastructure. A new maritime security unit was set up last year at the Department of Defence to look at ways to address maritime threats and risks to Ireland. Dr Margaret Stanley, who previously led the Office of Emergency Planning in the Defence Department and worked on peacekeeping matters at the United Nations in New York, was appointed to head the unit. Ireland's first maritime security strategy is expected to be published before the end of the year.
Irish Daily Mirror
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
Conor McGregor involved in spat with Games of Thrones actor over Gaza aid boat
Conor McGregor has become involved in a social media spat with Game of Thrones star Liam Cunningham over the seizure of an aid vessel bound for Gaza. The yacht, which includes activist Greta Thunberg among its 12-member crew, was intercepted by Israeli authorities in the early hours of Monday morning and is now en route to a port in Israel, officials have said. The vessel, named Madleen, is operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition and was aiming to deliver aid to Gaza and raise awareness of the worsening humanitarian crisis in the region. Madleen departed from Sicily a week ago, with Cunningham among those present at its launch. The Dublin actor has been a vocal critic of the Irish Government's response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Arguing that the Irish Navy should protect the aid-carrying vessel, Cunningham said last week that these charity missions were doing the work governments had failed to do. Cunningham said: "They are doing the job that we are supposed to be doing, the people who are supposed to respect international law." "There should be a flotilla of Irish naval vessels standing up for our international law and treating international law with the respect it deserves, not this wonderful, disparate group of people who have got together to put their lives in danger because they're not being backed up. "There should be a European force circling that boat to ensure that they get there, because that is their legal responsibility." When news broke in the early hours of Monday morning that the flotilla had been intercepted by Israeli authorities, the 64-year-old voiced his anger on social media. Cunningham wrote: "The Freedom flotilla was attacked during the night. The ship was rammed, boarded and the 12 volunteers kidnapped. This is more reprehensible behaviour from the genocidal regime in Tel Aviv." In a reply to the actor's post, UFC fighter McGregor appeared to mock Cunningham for not making the journey himself. McGregor wrote: "I thought you were on this boat Liamo, what happened? You forgot your goggles? You get sea sick off the gargle? Bottler." Cunningham immediately shot back at McGregor, though, writing: "Didn't know you could read and write Conor. Thought you used your hands to tap out." The Freedom Flotilla Coalition said the activists on board Madleen were 'kidnapped by Israeli forces' while trying to deliver desperately needed aid to the famished territory. 'The ship was unlawfully boarded, its unarmed civilian crew abducted, and its life-saving cargo — including baby formula, food and medical supplies —confiscated,' it said in a statement.
