17 hours ago
Four men charged in connection with seizure of €31m worth of cocaine in Co Cork
FOUR MEN HAVE appeared before a court in West Cork charged in connection with the seizure of €31 million worth of cocaine in Courtmacsherry in west Cork on Tuesday.
All four men have been remanded in custody. One of the men has an address in Germany whilst three of the accused are British nationals.
Levant Gulay, Mark Doherty, Ben Sandford and Christopher Hibbett appeared before Bandon court charged in connection with the seizure of 440kgs of cocaine.
They were brought to the court by members of the Garda National Drug and Organised Crime Bureau. Gardaí were assisted by the Armed Support Unit.
Detectives from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau gave evidence of the arrest, charge and caution of the four accused at garda stations in Bandon in the county and Togher in Cork city.
All four men were charged with possession of cocaine and possession of cocaine for sale or supply at Meelmane, Courtmacsherry, Co Cork on 1 July 2025.
Detective Garda John McWeeney gave evidence of the arrest, charge and caution of Mark Doherty (40) of Waterfoot Avenue, Glasgow, Scotland.
He said that Mr Doherty made no reply when the charges were put to him.
Detective Garda Shane Kiely gave evidence of the arrest, charge and caution of Ben Sandford (39) of Woodgreen, Drum Road, Keith, Moray, Scotland. He also made no reply to the charges.
Detective Garda Marguerite Reilly gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution in relation to Levant Gulay (31) of Schwabeenstrasse 76, Neu Ulm, Germany. He made no reply to the charges.
Advertisement
Detective Garda Gavin Curran, gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution of Christopher Hibbett (44) of Lower Park, Trissillian, Truro, England.
Detective Garda Curran told the court that Mr Hibbett stated 'I'm fucking sorry, that's it' when he put the possession of cocaine for sale or supply charge to him earlier today at Togher Garda Station.
Solicitors Myra Dineen and Plunkett Taaffe, representing Mr Gulay and Mr Doherty respectively, said that their clients were reserving their positions on bail.
Both solicitors opted to stand in for Frank Buttimer for Mr Sandford and for solicitor Eddie Burke for Mr Hibbett.
They confirmed that they were also not seeking bail for either man at this juncture.
Sergeant Tom Mulcahy told Judge Joanne Carroll that gardai were seeking a remand in custody for all four men to Macroom District Court on 9 July.
Judge Carroll remanded all four accused to appear in court on that date.
Judge Carroll also requested that defence solicitors provide two days notice to gardai if their clients intend to make bail applications on the next occasion.
All four men also have to supply statement of means to the court.
The men were held under drugs trafficking legislation which allowed gardai to detain them for up to seven days.
The arrests occurred as part of a Joint Task Force Drugs Interdiction Operation.
