Latest news with #OperationPiano
Irish Times
14-07-2025
- Irish Times
‘It was like a scene from an action movie': How Ireland's biggest drug bust unfolded
The seizure of the MV Matthew, with its massive consignment of drugs, off the Irish coast in September 2023 was as daring as it was skilful. After days of a cat and mouse chase in challenging weather between the Naval Service and the Matthew, members of the elite Army Ranger Wing descended from a helicopter on to the deck of the cargo ship. The crew were arrested and the drugs found. Operation Piano – which brought Revenue, the Garda and the Defence Forces together – resulted in Ireland's largest ever drugs seizure, worth €156 million. While the operation was an undoubted success, a showcase of ability, power and intent, it also highlighted how ill-equipped the Defence Forces are. READ MORE Only one ship was available for the operation, and only one helicopter. So many things could have gone wrong. Eight men have been jailed over the drugs seizure, their significant sentences a signal from the Irish courts that anyone involved in such international drug smuggling will be treated severely. Irish Times crime and security correspondent Conor Gallagher describes how the Matthew was intercepted and seized. Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey.
Irish Times
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Letters to the Editor, July 8th: On equipping the Defence Forces, Botox, and replacing the president
Sir, – Conor Gallagher's gripping account of Operation Piano captures not only the most audacious Irish Defence Forces mission in decades, but also a quiet truth: Irish sailors, soldiers and Air Corps crews perform extraordinary feats despite systemic neglect (' Hizbullah and Iran suspected of involvement in MV Matthew smuggling operation ,' July 5th.) The daring interdiction of the MV Matthew amid Storm Agnes – with Army Ranger Wing operators rappelling on to a moving vessel in heavy swells, a lone helicopter pressed into service, and a single Naval Service ship shouldering the entire mission – should have been impossible. That it succeeded is testament to the skill, courage and sheer determination of those involved. Yet this triumph must not blind us to the wider reality. These are forces running on fumes: unable to put more than one ship to sea at a time, reliant on overstretched crews, battling chronic equipment, and recruitment and retention crises. READ MORE Ireland's neighbours know it. So, too, do malign actors, from drug cartels to Russian surveillance ships lurking near undersea cables vital to the global economy. Operation Piano should not just be a proud moment; it is a chance to inspire a new generation to serve. But recruitment campaigns must be matched by serious investment: competitive pay, modern equipment and political commitment. And let's be clear: building a modern, capable military does not compromise Ireland's traditional neutrality – and it shouldn't. This is not an 'either/or' choice; it's an 'and'. The success of this mission should galvanise a grown-up conversation about Ireland's place in an increasingly dangerous world. – Yours, etc, DAVID SWEENEY, Washington DC, United States. University fees increase proposal Sir, – I'm writing as a 51-year-old mother of three, full-time worker, taxpayer and voter, to express my deep frustration and disappointment at the Government's plan to increase third-level college fees back up to €3,000. Like so many others in my generation, we have raised our children without a modicum of State support beyond the basic children's allowance. We paid full whack for everything: childcare, creche, GP visits, dentists, school books, uniforms – you name it. There was no Early Childgood Care and Education scheme when we needed it, no free GP care, no tax reliefs worth mentioning. We paid full stamp duty on our first home, we've paid PRSI and USC since it was introduced, and we've continued to pay high income taxes throughout. We didn't qualify for any grants. No Susi. No back-to-school allowance. No medical card. Nothing. And we didn't complain – we worked hard and got on with it, trusting that at some point we'd see a bit of recognition or support. That recognition finally came in the form of the ¤1,000 reduction in college fees. It was the only tangible help we've received in 22 years of raising children. And now, just as quickly, it's being taken away. We have two children in college right now. We pay for everything – fees, rent, food, transport – and we are doing it on after-tax income with no financial assistance. It is demoralising in the extreme to be told, in effect, that once again our cohort doesn't matter. We've done everything 'right' by the State and have been left holding the bag at every stage of our parenting journey. I urge the Government to seriously reconsider the reversal of this small but meaningful relief. For many of us, this isn't just about money – it's about fairness, dignity, and the principle that people who have contributed so much to this country should not be punished for quietly getting on with things without ever asking for help. I speak not just for myself, but for countless friends, colleagues, and neighbours who feel just as let down. – Yours, etc, ANNE KEANE, Cork. Sir, – How many actual, or potential, university students spent far more than the previously allowed €1,000 reduction in fees that is not being given this year on holidays in Spain or Greece this summer? – Yours, etc, EAMONN DILLON, Farranshone, Co Limerick. Awarding HSE contracts Sir, – I find it troubling to reconcile the recent revelations concerning the HSE, specifically, that current and former employees have acted as directors of a limited company engaged in multimillion euro contracts with the very organisation they serve or once served. Having spent years in the private sector, I can perhaps just about understand how ex-employees might find themselves in such a position, though even that raises questions. But the notion that active employees of the HSE could be involved in awarding or benefiting from such contracts is, quite frankly, inconceivable. This situation raises an obvious and urgent question: were those responsible for managing these tenders, whether within the HSE or acting as its agents, fully aware of the employment relationships involved? If not, why not? If they were, even more serious concerns arise. In an era when regulatory compliance, ethical standards, and fitness and probity have been significantly tightened, it is difficult to imagine how these transactions could meet the standards required of public bodies. A full, independent inquiry is not just warranted, it is essential. – Yours etc, DAVID CASSIDY, Griffith Avenue, Dublin 9. Turner, take a bow Sir, – I dislike cartoons largely because they leave me unmoved. Your cartoon (July 5th), about environmental damage jumped off the page for me. Martyn Turner, take a bow for grabbing my attention and telling me so persuasively about costs to the exchequer, the planet and US workers' predicament, no less. – Yours,etc, BERNADETTE BARRINGTON, Dublin 12. Mission impossible Sir, – After President Michael D Higgins vacates the office of Uachtaráin na hÉireann I suggest the position be stood down as a suitable candidate to replace him is an impossibility. – Yours, etc, DEREK HENRY CARR, Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1. Sir, – In order to alleviate the lethargic approach to our upcoming presidential election, why don't we do what they did in the US and vote for a monarch? – Yours, etc, DAVID CLEERE, Co Wexford. Nurses and injecting Botox Sir, – In response to the recent letter claiming that nurses are authorised to independently administer botulinum toxin under the direction of a doctor, I must clarify the legal position. On one point, we can agree: the law has not changed (Letters, July 4th). Under current Irish law, botulinum toxin-classified as a prescription-only medicine (POM) – may only be prescribed and administered by a registered medical doctor or dentist. A nurse may administer toxin only after a doctor has conducted a face-to-face consultation, assessed the patient, and formally delegated the procedure to a staff nurse within their clinical team. This is not equivalent to autonomous practice. Botox is not a cosmetic product – it is a potent neuromodulator requiring clinical oversight. In cases of adverse events such as infection, anaphylaxis, or ptosis (drooping eyelid), timely intervention with prescription medication is critical. Only a qualified prescriber can provide this level of care. Ireland, unlike many of our EU counterparts, continues to allow ambiguity in this sector. Most European countries sensibly restrict aesthetic medical procedures to doctors and dentists and formally recognise aesthetic medicine as a medical speciality. We would do well to follow their example to protect patient safety and professional standards. – Yours, etc, Dr SEAN FITZPATRICK, President of the Irish College of Aesthetic Medicine, Dublin. Sir, – On the basis that nurses are trusted by medical systems in a variety of crucial roles from ICU decision-making to palliative care, Christina O'Rourke (Letters, July 4th) suggests there is 'no valid reason to restrict' them from injecting Botox into people. I'd argue there may be. A Google search of the term 'most lethal substance' immediately identifies this toxin of Clostridium botulinum as the lead in this regard. A Wikipedia search of 'median lethal dose' puts Botox at 1 nanogram/Kg. So, given that five grams of the substance, if distributed frugally, could kill all of humanity perhaps the case to allow its more widespread injection should be more nuanced? – Yours, etc, BRIAN O'BRIEN, Co Cork. Hpat and all that Sir, – It could be argued that Carl O'Brien provides a well balanced assessment of the relative merits and demerits of private tuition for the Health Professions Admission Test (' Hpat: Can students be 'coached' to pass aptitude tests for entry to medical school? ,' July 4th). At the end of the article, I was wondering with some trepidation, whether or not I would 'pass the Hpat' so I attempted the three questions. I was much relieved there were no issues with the first and third questions, but I was left scratching my head on checking the answer to question two. Maybe my level of interpersonal understanding isn't all I thought it was. – Yours, etc, Dr MICHAEL MULHERN, Letterkenny, Co Donegal. Sir, – Brenda Morgan writes (July 4th) that as a teacher she would value neat handwriting and other factors over any extra test such as the Hpat in selecting doctors. Were this truly a requirement for entry to medical school, it is likely that only a tiny minority of current doctors would have been admitted (myself included). – Yours, etc, Dr DAVID VAUGHAN, Mornington, Meath. Sir, – Carl O'Brien's very interesting piece on the Hpat test for admission of students to Irish medical schools omits one important reason for the introduction of that test in 2009; ie to try to weight the gender balance more in favour of male students who were faring less well than females in the traditional exam-based selection process. Has it succeeded in that aim? Or has it, as Prof Hyland predicted, merely contributed to the grinds industry? – Yours, etc, CELIA KEENAN, Dublin. Sir, – While a discussion about the relative weighting of the Hpat is welcome, people have forgotten about the situation before its introduction. At that time, it was not unusual for students to complete two, three, or even four Leaving Certificates to reach the required points. As well as the waste of the students' time, the ability to pay for the extra tuition in the grind schools was only for people with money. The use of points only also made the prospect of random selection much more common, as is being seen in other degree courses now. There is no perfect medical school admission test. How can any test predict the ability of the many roles of a doctor? An interview, even if semi-structured, has obvious potential biases and would certainly create a new industry to prepare students for this, too. The Hpat tests abilities other than rote learning. It is not ideal, but it has reduced the number of students taking multiple Leaving Certificates. The number of free sample questions it produces is limited, and certainly, these could be increased to allow everyone more pre-test practice. By all means, reduce its importance in the selection process, but it should not be discontinued. – Yours, etc, KEVIN DUNNE, (Retired consultant), Galway. Why have any nuclear arms? Sir, – May I be so bold as to ask why certain countries such as America, India, Israel, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom, North Korea and Pakistan are allowed nuclear arms without question and others such as Iran are totally forbidden to have them? Is this not total hypocrisy and putting other countries at a disadvantage? Is it not fairer to ban nuclear arms from all countries? – Yours, etc, MAGGIE FITZGERALD, Killiney, Co Dublin. Airport set down enforcement Sir, – Terminal 1, Dublin Airport, Friday, July 4th: an entire lane of the constricted roadway at the departures set-down area is blocked by motorists sitting there to collect arriving passengers. Constant announcements bark that 'this is a set-down area only', but the waiting motorists, cocooned in their cars, know that the airport police will not disturb them. Maybe Dublin Airport cannot exercise the authority to enforce its own traffic bylaws when it refuses to accept capacity restrictions imposed by national planning laws? – Yours, etc, DAVID LOUGHLIN, Dublin 6. Support your local seagulls Sir – Des Boyle in complaining about seagulls (Letters, July 7th) states that they are 'vermin' and as such should be culled or exterminated for his convenience. For his information seagulls are not vermin and like any other creatures are entitled to live and raise their young free from the selfish entitlement of humans. Had humans not destroyed their natural habitat and decimated their food sources, they would not be forced to live in cities and scavenge for a living. Rather than exterminating seagulls, humans should work to restore their habitat and food sources and we would all, humans and birds, be the better for it. – Yours, etc, HUGH PIERCE, Celbridge, Co Kildare. No rocket science Sir, – Is it not feasible that with a little accommodation, change of bylaw if required, a solution can be found for residents wishing to charge their EV outside their homes. A concrete saw operator, and an electrician and a means to connect from the gully adjacent to the footpath. It's not rocket science. – Yours, etc, STANLEY WHITE, Delgany, Co Wicklow.
Irish Daily Mirror
05-07-2025
- Irish Daily Mirror
Defence Forces hunted cocaine ship MV Matthew for five days
The Defence Forces operation to seize the MV Matthew came within feet of disaster – and only the skill of an Air Corps pilot saved the day. Sources say the Air Corps helicopter that flew an Army Ranger Wing team to seize the cocaine-laden freighter off the south coast came so close to the ship that its blades were within feet of large cranes on it. An officer who commanded the air mission told us the chopper would have crashed if any of its blades struck the giant yellow cranes. 'If we clip the blade we're gone,' he said. 'In the best case, we might get to ditch it onto the vessel, or ditch it into the sea. But it's not good.' Now, as eight men begin jail terms over the September 2023 plan to smuggle the drugs here on the freighter, we can reveal new details about the Defence Forces plan, called Operation Piano, in which the ARW, Naval Service and Air Corps combined to seize the ship – and the cocaine on board. We can reveal that: · The ARW team fast-roped 55 feet from the chopper onto the deck in heavy seas in seconds · One of the crew turned the ship hard left just as the ARW operators were roping down · The special forces unit seized control of the freighter in just five minutes · A Naval Service commander was planning to open fire on the ship after it refused lawful orders to stop, and · An Air Corps gunner in the chopper used a GPMG machine gun to provide cover to the ARW team as they stormed the ship. The three arms of the Defence Forces teamed up with Revenue Customs and Gardai to form a joint task force to take down the MV Matthew, a Panamanian registered freighter that had sailed across the Atlantic Ocean with 2,200 kilos of cocaine - worth €157 million. But Gardai and Customs had received international intelligence on the plot – and worked with the Defence Forces to foil it on September 26. Operation Piano started five days earlier, on Friday, September 22 when the captain of the Naval Service ship LÉ William B Yeats was summoned to a short notice meeting at its HQ at Haulbowline in Co Cork. He and his crew had just spent two weeks at sea – but were ordered back out again. He told us: 'I was briefed in broad terms about an impending counter narcotics operation that was expected to happen off the south coast of Ireland within a matter of days and I was given instructions to return the ship immediately to sea.' The Irish Mirror's Crime Writers Michael O'Toole and Paul Healy are writing a new weekly newsletter called Crime Ireland. Click here to sign up and get it delivered to your inbox every week Within 90 minutes, the 44 crew on the €71 million ship were ready and it headed out to the Irish Sea. They had received intelligence that the Matthew and a trawler called the Castlemore were planning to meet up in Irish waters. It was suspected that the Matthew was the mother ship and the plan was for it to link up with the smaller Castlemore and transfer a massive drugs consignment over to it – which would then land it on the south coast. On Saturday, the ship picked up gardai and customs officers and then headed to patrol the area of sea where investigators believed the hand over would take place. The following evening, Sunday, the LÉ WB Yeats monitored both vessels off the coast of Wexford. Officers saw the Castlemore loiter in the suspected drop off area for around an hour. The captain told us he believed that the Matthew had dropped the drugs into the sea and the Castlemore was searching for them. Then, at around 11pm, the captain received reports a trawler had run aground off the coast – and he realised it was the Castlemore. He then took part in an operation to rescue two men from the stricken trawler. A Coast Guard helicopter winched the men from the trawler and they were then brought to the WB Yeats, which transported them to Rosslare port. The Yeats spent much of Monday monitoring the grounded Castlemore as searches took place for drugs in the waters close to it. But at 1am on Tuesday, September 26, it was ordered to chase down the Matthew, which was now off the coast of Waterford. The Yeats caught up with the Matthew at 5am – and immediately started to interrogate the crew over the radio. The Matthew's captain, Iranian Soheil Jelveh, 51, had been airlifted the day before in a medical emergency, and the Yeats' captain had to deal with his second in command. The officer ordered the crew member to head to Cork – but the Matthew claimed it was having engine problems and needed 48 hours for repairs. After several hours, the second in command eventually agreed to the Irish demands and set sail for Cork. 'It looked like things were going our way,' the Irish captain said. But an hour later, it became clear that the MV Matthew was bluffing – and it had instead set a course for Sierra Leone in west Africa. The Irish officer said: 'It was apparent to me then that I was in hot pursuit of that ship. I was authorised to use force, if necessary, to get that vessel to comply with my instruction. Ultimately, I arrived at the decision that force needed to be used.' It was now around midday on Tuesday and the officer ordered his crew to fire warning shots in the air from Steyr 5.56mm assault rifles. The crew ignored those shots, so the captain ordered his personnel to fire more shots – but this time from the heavier calibre 7.62mm machinegun. The captain told us the MV Matthew crew begged for their lives – but still ignored his commands to head to Cork. He said: 'Some of the messages came back were words like 'don't, don't shoot. There's people here who are innocent. We have families at home, wives, children. We don't want to die. And please deescalate.' 'My response was always that they were responsible for the outcome of this action, that they had within their power to deescalate. I would have immediately backed off had I seen the results that we needed to. I imagine it got quite frantic on board. And just in the interactions between myself and the guy at the end of the radio, he was doing everything in his power to put me off the course of action that I was on.' But the Irish captain knew he had to be firm - and that he had the law on his side. He had three other weapons on board: a 12.7mm heavy machine gun, a 20mm cannon and a 76mm main gun. He said: 'I have the options of using the heavy machine gun and 20 millimetre and 76 millimetre weapons. They were the options that were available to me.' He adds he was planning on firing the warning shots gradually closer to the Matthew – and was ready to actually hit the vessel with what is called disabling fire, that would mean targeting the engine. He said: 'You begin stepping your shots closer to the vessel, and if you're into the realm of disabling shots, then you are trying your best to hit critical machinery that would disable the vessel and stop the vessel in its tracks, obviously mitigating against personal injury.' But the Irish captain then got an order to cease the warning shots as the Air Corps were flying an Army Ranger Wing unit to the Matthew – to assault it from the skies. The special forces unit was flown to the MV Matthew on board an Air Corps AW139 helicopter. The senior flyer who commanded the mission said the Air Corps provided a two planes – a PC-12 and a Casa – for overwatch, while approximately nine ARW operators were loaded into the AW139 helicopter and flown to Waterford airport. At 12.40pm, then Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Micheal Martin gave approval for the mission and the helicopter carrying the assault team lifted off at 1pm. The officer said: 'We got radar contact around 25 miles off the South West coast. We were updated then that warning shots were being fired by our naval colleagues who were trying to get (The MV Matthew) to stop. We have planned all along there was going to be a compliant boarding so we weren't anticipating the offensive nature.' But they then realised the Matthew was not following orders – and got ready to deliver the ARW team in a non-compliant landing. That meant positioning the helicopter so an ARW sniper and an Air Corps gunner using a GMPG machinegun were able to provide cover as the special forces team fast roped onto the ship from 55 feet. The officer said: 'We came in low. The swell was around four metres, the wind was around 20 knots and (MV Matthew) was going around 10-15 knots. We've got 35-40 knots coming across the deck as we're getting ready to put ropes on. The swell was pitching and rolling the vessel, which made it more challenging. 'The deck was very challenging. There were antennae, we'd high cranes left and right. It made it probably the highest and fast rope we've ever done onto a vessel. 'And at times we've just barely a small bit of rope on. So it's an extremely challenging and dangerous insertion.' He said the team would normally use a winch to deploy personnel onto a ship – but the ARW unit needed to get on quickly. And that meant using fast ropes which - combined with the closeness of the cranes and antennae as well as the weather – made the insertion extremely risky. And it became even more dangerous when a crew member on the Matthew turned the Matthew towards the helicopter while the fast rope was actually happening. The Air Corps officer said: 'Fast roping on land is extremely dangerous. But going out to ship in quite challenging maritime conditions with 35/40 knots across the deck, she's rolling and pitching with these two big masts that are very, very close and then they decide to turn into us. 'So we're constantly moving, trying to maintain our position on the deck. Once the guy goes on to the rope it's extremely dangerous, if he comes off at 50/55 feet, it's something not even worth thinking about.' He confirmed the AW139's blades were only a matter of feet from the cranes when the ARW team was fast roping onto the MV Matthew. Only the skill of the pilot prevented a catastrophe. The officer said: 'If we clip the blade we're gone. In the best case, we might get to ditch it onto the vessel, or ditch it into the sea. But it's not good.' The ARW team took a matter of seconds to rope onto the ship, a senior special forces commander told us. He revealed they had control of the ship within five minutes. The first operators to land on the ship raced to the bridge - the most important area of the vessel. He said: 'The priority will be to control the vessel. That means it can't be steered in a different direction. It can't be rammed into another vessel, or it can't be scuttled. 'We had full control within about five minutes of the first personnel being on the deck. ' He said he knew once the soldiers landed safely it was all over for the ship's crew. He said: 'We had full confidence that once we got the guys on to the deck, there wasn't going to be anything on the ship that they couldn't deal with. We've got really well trained people. Once we managed to get them onto the deck, it would be over.' Once the bridge was under the ARW control, operators realised some of the crew were trying to burn the cocaine in a lifeboat. The team ran over and used fire extinguishers to put out the blaze – and save the cocaine as evidence. And one of the ARW soldiers then took control of the massive freighter – and sailed it to Cork harbour, where gardai were waiting to board it. The senior ARW officer said: 'We have a lot of personnel who are dedicated to working in the maritime environment and they've got really specialist qualifications in that area. We had personnel on board that day who were able to take the ship under control and bring it into Cork.'
Irish Times
05-07-2025
- Irish Times
How the Defence Forces carried out its most daring operation in decades, with minimal resources
The crew of LÉ William Butler Yeats were looking forward to a relaxing weekend when the ship arrived in Haulbowline Naval base in Co Cork on the morning of September 22nd, 2023. The vessel had just completed a two-week maritime security patrol and was due to spend the next two days in port, allowing most of the crew a trip home to see family. Those plans were scuppered when, shortly after docking, the captain was summoned to the Naval Operations Command Centre. An Garda Síochána and Revenue, operating as part of a Joint Task Force, had received word of a massive drugs consignment about to land in Ireland aboard a bulk carrier called the MV Matthew, he was told. READ MORE The captain returned to the ship and briefed his crew. All leave was cancelled. The details of the interdiction of the MV Matthew, which led to the biggest drugs seizure by weight in the history of the State, were detailed in interviews with the military officers directly involved. These include the Yeats's captain, the leader of the Air Corps team and a senior member of the Army Ranger Wing (ARW) special operations unit, whose troops rappelled on to the moving vessel amid heavy swells while Storm Agnes bore down on the country. The Defence Forces has requested all those involved remain anonymous due to personnel security concerns. At the start of the mission, which would later be termed Operation Piano, the job of the Yeats was simply to keep Matthew under surveillance, along with a small fishing vessel called the Castlemore. The taskforce believed the Castlemore was planning to rendezvous with the Matthew off southern coast and take on the cocaine before ferrying it to Ireland. The plan was to let this play out before detaining the Castlemore after it brought the cocaine ashore. 'We know now that didn't happen,' said the naval captain. Instead, the Yeats would spend the next five days taking part in the most ambitious and dramatic operation in Irish naval history, during which it would serve as a warship, a search and rescue vessel and a makeshift prison. 'It was incredibly dynamic,' recalled the naval officer. 'You couldn't write it.' The eventual success of the operation was all the more remarkable given the extreme constraints on the Defence Forces. While previous major interdictions involved multiple warships, the Yeats was the only one available this time round. Military planners believed four helicopters would be required to guarantee success but just one was accessible – a Defence Forces helicopter assigned to an emergency air ambulance role which had to be recalled and pressed into service. After picking up a team of gardaí and customs officers, the Yeats sailed to a spot off the south coast where, according to Garda intelligence, the Matthew was to transfer its cargo to the Castlemore. The Yeats's job was to observe the transfer from a distance. The weather began to deteriorate rapidly, however – thanks to Storm Agnes and its 135kph winds – raising doubts the handover would happen at all. The MV Matthew being pursued The next night, the Castlemore finally arrived but there was no sign of the mother ship. The Yeats's captain could see on his screens that, instead of meeting the smaller vessel, the Matthew was sailing up the Irish Sea towards Dublin. After an hour, the fishing boat sailed back inland, leading authorities to believe it was going to shelter from the increasingly perilous weather at Kilmore Quay in Wexford. Instead, it sailed past Kilmore. It was becoming increasingly clear to the crew of the Yeats that they were not dealing with experienced seafarers. They were also having their own problems. The deteriorating weather made it increasingly difficult for their sensors to keep track of the boat. 'At one point, we lost radar contact with the vessel and we had to conduct a search over a couple of hours to regain radar contact,' the captain recalls. At 11pm, word came through that the Castlemore had run around on a sandbank, stranding its two-man crew. The Irish Coast Guard led the rescue operation while the Yeats hid over the horizon, ready to assist if needed. As weather conditions worsened, the Yeats was asked to bring the stricken smugglers ashore. The men were winched up in a Coastguard helicopter before being deposited on the naval ship. [ Hizbullah and Iran suspected of involvement in MV Matthew smuggling operation Opens in new window ] The suspects were housed on the vessel and given food and dry clothes, before being brought ashore the next morning and taken into Garda custody. No drugs were found during a subsequent search of the sandbank and the surrounding waters, meaning the cocaine must still have been aboard the Matthew. Now four days into the operation, the Yeats was ordered to sail at full speed towards the Matthew, which, by then, was near Rosslare. Back on land, the taskforce began to plan for the possibility of having to take the ship by force. The Matthew, a 190-metre long bulk carrier, was carrying almost no cargo, meaning it sat high in the water. This would make it extremely difficult for naval personnel in inflatable boats to gain access. Preliminary plans were drawn up for special operations troops to take the ship from the air. Specifically, the ARW's air assault section – which specialises in the insertion of troops and equipment via helicopter – would fast rope on to the Matthew before taking control of the bridge and securing the crew and cocaine. The ARW has conducted maritime assault training exercises on a yearly basis since 2009, usually involving a hijacked ferry scenario. This operation, however, had the potential to be significantly more dangerous. Just landing the team on a moving ship, crowded with cranes and cables, during heavy swells would require an immense amount of skill. The proposed ARW operation was put to one side as a contingency, while it was decided that the safest option, for the time being, was to somehow convince the crew of the Matthew to voluntarily bring the ship into port. At 5am, on September 26th, the Yeats intercepted the Matthew off the coast and ordered it to sail into Cork Habour. The Matthew responded that it had suffered engine failure and needed 48 hours to make repairs. By this stage, the situation on board the cargo ship was becoming increasingly chaotic as the crew realised their smuggling operation was a failure. After failing to rendezvous with the Castlemore, their criminal bosses in Dubai instructed them to put the cocaine in a lifeboat and prepare to land them ashore. Later, the crew were wrongly advised that the Irish authorities had no legal authority to board their vessel. It subsequently emerged in court the Dubai criminals were relaying legal advice from ChatGPT. By the 25th, the Matthew's Iranian captain, Soheil Jelveh, had had enough and made a distress call asking for an emergency medical evacuation. A short time later, he was winched on to a Coast Guard helicopter while carrying $40,000 in two suitcases. Jelveh was arrested by gardaí shortly after when he tried to leave hospital. This left Harold Estoesta, a 31-year-old Filipino and the ship's second in command, to attempt to stall the Yeats. The captain informed him over the radio, however, that he did not believe his story about engine failure. Partially-burned cocaine stash inside a lifeboat on the MV Matthew. Photograph: An Garda Síochána/PA Wire To everyone's surprise, Estoesta then appeared to comply with the Yeats's orders and set a course for Cork Harbour. 'Things kind of calmed down a small bit. It looked like things were going our way and that in the next couple of hours it would make landfall in Cork,' said the Irish naval captain. It was not to be. An hour later, the Matthew turned south and set a course for Sierra Leone. 'It was apparent to me then that I was in hot pursuit of that ship and that I was authorised to use force, if necessary, to get the vessel to comply with my instruction,' said the captain. Under Irish law, naval captains may fire across the bow of a fleeing ship to force it to comply. If this does not work, they may fire directly on the ship's engines. Such action is rarely required but not without precedent. For example, in 1985, LÉ Aisling fired about 600 rounds during a five-hour pursuit of a Spanish fishing vessel which refused to stop. The captain of the Yeats ordered his crew to fire several bursts in front of the Matthew, initially from assault rifles and then from mounted machine guns. As this went on, radio communications were becoming increasingly fraught. Estoesta pleaded with the Yeats to cease fire. The naval captain recalled him saying: 'There's people here who are innocent. We have families at home, wives, children. We don't want to die. Please de-escalate.' The captain replied that Estoesta was responsible for the outcome of the situation. 'From their point of view, I imagine it got quite frantic on board,' the officer said. Back on land, it had been decided the helicopter assault was the only viable option left. 'We prepped the aircraft. We got the weapons, loaded up, our armour and our personal weapons,' said the Air Corps Commander. Planners discussed the risk profile of the mission and at what point it would become too dangerous to continue. Personnel were also briefed by the Defence Forces legal section on the rules of engagement – in other words, where and when they were permitted to use lethal force. Just before 1pm on the 26th, then tánaiste and minister for defence Micheál Martin was briefed on the plan. He gave the go ahead and, 20 minutes later, an AW139 helicopter containing the ARW team took off from Waterford Airport and sped towards the Matthew. The plan envisaged the troops descending by rope on to the deck. Cover would be provided by an ARW sniper who would remain on the aircraft and an Air Corps door gunner operating a machine gun. Rescue crews sat in Rigid Hulled Inflatable Boats – known as Rhibs – aboard the Yeats, ready to deploy at a moment's notice if the helicopter had to ditch in the sea, while other sailors manned the ship's guns. As the helicopter approached, an Air Corps maritime patrol aircraft made a low pass over the vessel in a last-ditch effort to convince it to comply. Instead, the Matthew began to manoeuvre back and forth, significantly increasing the danger faced by the aerial assault team. The team leaders realised then it would be a 'non-compliant boarding'. To reduce the risk to the team, the pilot positioned the helicopter so that the machine gun and sniper were facing the bridge while the ARW operators fast roped off the other side. 'The deck was very challenging, with whip antennas and high cranes left and right. So, it made us do probably the highest fast rope we've ever done on to a vessel,' said the Air Corps Commander. All the while, the Matthew continued to turn back and forth. 'So it's an extremely challenging and dangerous insertion,' he said. The ARW team managed to get on the deck before, with their hands burning from the rope, moving to take control of the ship. Seconds later, the helicopter pulled away, having been unable to drop down several additional bags of equipment for the soldiers. 'We just needed to come off the deck because it was starting to get too dangerous,' said the air Commander. Although they may appear chaotic, ARW assaults involve 'a really graduated number of steps', said the special operations officer. 'Without getting into operational techniques, the priority generally is to take the vessel under way and control it,' said the officer. 'That means dominating the people on the vessel and taking control of key spaces so it can't be steered in a different direction or rammed into another vessel or scuttled.' The crew offered little resistance and, within a few minutes the ship was taken, the officer said. 'The lads moved very quickly to dominate. The psychological effect of that, particularly for people who are seamen and not involved in criminal activity, can be quite intimidating.' A fresh problem faced them immediately, however. Before the boarding, the crew had started to burn the cocaine in the lifeboat. Faced with the prospect of losing the evidence, ARW operators quickly grabbed fire extinguishers and doused the flames. With the crew in handcuffs, Revenue personnel were brought abroad, while an ARW operator piloted the Matthew, along with its 2.2 tonnes of cocaine, into Cork Harbour. On Friday, eight members of the crews of the Matthew and Castlemore received prison sentences of between 13 1/2 and 20 years – a combined 129 years in total – after pleading guilty in the Special Criminal Court to possession of €156 million worth of cocaine. General views of the MV Matthew in Cork. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire The court heard the drug smuggling operation was organised by a transnational organised crime group based in Dubai, which had 'immense capabilities, unlimited resources and a global reach'. Today, the Matthew sits rusting in a berth at Passage West in Cork while the Castlemore, or what is left of it, is still stranded on the sandbank off Wexford. In the aftermath of Operation Piano, those involved received praise domestically and internationally, with other militaries asking the Defence Forces for advice on planning similar operations. For the Defence Forces, Piano's success was a much-needed morale boost, given recent controversies surrounding abuse of women in the ranks and the organisation's recruitment and retention difficulties. Some members privately complained, however, that the threadbare resources available for the interdiction only underlined the systemic problems facing the military. 'You need two helicopters at a minimum to provide mutual support and that's a major, major issue because it's a risky operation anyway,' said former ARW officer Cathal Berry after the operation. 'What if the helicopter had to ditch in the sea or if it had a crash on the ship itself?' Those involved in the operation are more sanguine when asked about the shortages. 'At the end of the day, we had the assets that we had and it was the people that made it work,' said the Yeats's captain. 'There were periods there where the entire crew was up for 24 hours. But everybody swung up the arms and gave the maximum effort.' The air Commander said his 'ideal' package for such an operation is four helicopters; two to insert troops and two to provide covering fire. There is 'doom and gloom but there are positives coming', he said, pointing to the recent purchase of four H145M helicopters capable of deploying advanced weapons systems and the planned procurement of a fleet of larger 'super-medium' helicopters. Perhaps the biggest sign of hope for the Defence Forces is the recent stabilisation in the number of people leaving for the private sector and green shoots in terms of recruitment. Meanwhile, the Yeats and its crew have continued their run of success in drug interdiction operations. On Tuesday, the ship played a vital role in intercepting a €31 million cocaine shipment off Courtmacsherry in Cork. 'It's just a lucky ship, I suppose,' said one Defence Forces officer last week.
The Journal
05-07-2025
- The Journal
Irish criminals top tier of international organised crime, Interpol organised crime chief reveals
LAST UPDATE | 33 mins ago IRISH CRIMINALS ARE at the top tier of international organised crime, a senior Interpol official has said. This morning, at Haulbowline Naval Base in Cork, Irish and international agencies involved in Operation Piano, the mission to capture the MV Matthew, have spoken for the first time about how Ireland's largest ever cocaine seizure happened. Gardaí, Customs, the Naval Service, Interpol and MAOC-N outlined their teams' work in the capture in September 2023. Yesterday eight men, from Ukraine, Iran and the UK were sentenced to lengthy jail terms for their part in the mission. This morning, at a press conference, the voicemails from the Dubai based criminal controller were played for the first time for media. In an extraordinary video produced by the Garda Press Office and issued by participating agencies – the true drama of Operation Piano was revealed. On the 26th of September 2023, the MV Matthew was interdicted by the Joint Task Force (JTF) on Drug Interdiction. The JTF consists of the Revenue Customs Service, An Garda Síochána and the Naval Service as the lead representatives for the Defence Forces. During this operation,… — Óglaigh na hÉireann (@defenceforces) July 5, 2025 As revealed yesterday by The Journal part of the operation was a fundraising drive by Iranian operatives on behalf of the Hezbollah terror group . It was confirmed in Haulbowline this morning that three of the men on board were part of that Iranian team. Speaking to The Journal after the press conference David Caunter, of the Interpol Organised and Emerging Crime Directorate, said that Irish criminals are right at the head of the global organised crime snake. 'It [Irish criminal involvement in a European super cartel] continues to evolve. These cartels are super resilient. 'They're looking for new ways to get their drugs to market. So I think it's changing. I think the threat of synthetic drugs is on the rise globally. We're seeing synthetic drug markets popping up, especially here in Europe, which is an alarming trend just based from the high potential for death overdose deaths like we've seen in North America. 'So that's something that we're monitoring quite closely,' he said. Caunter said that there is evidence of fentanyl and other synthetic drugs such as nitazene which has become more prevalent across Europe. 'We're also seeing an increase in what we call poly drug cocktail drugs, pink cocaine, for example, which actually doesn't contain cocaine, but it is a mixture of various different synthetic drugs. 'When organizations are poisoning the streets with those types of substances, there's a high potential for overdose deaths and [associated] illnesses,' he added. He said that the nitazenes are more prevalent in Europe because the American market was hit first with fentanyl and the abuse of prescription drugs. Nitazene has been found in Ireland in counterfeit yellow tranquiliser style drugs – a warning has been issued by the HSE to users after several overdoses . Advertisement Caunter said the 'traditional plant based drug manufacturing' is not limited by geographical location and the crime groups are now moving towards synthetic drugs as it is easier to produce locally. 'It can really happen anywhere, anywhere in the world, and that's what makes it quite alarming. You can, you can move your your production zone right next to your your transportation networks,' he added. David Caunter, Director of Organized and Emerging Crime at INTERPOL during a briefing at Haulbowline Naval Base, Cork. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo Caunter said that connections between European organised crime involving Irish criminals with their counterparts such as the Sinaloa Cartel is widespread and evolving. When asked where do Irish organised criminals sit on the seniority level in global crime, whether they are top tier, middle or bottom, he said: ' I would say they're a top criminal organisation.' The intelligence Sjoerd Top, the director of the Maritime Analysis Operations Centre – Narcotics (MAOC-N) based in Lisbon, Portugal. Speaking in Haulbowline Naval Base this morning he said that Ireland was an example of the successes that can come from working together with international partners and Irish state agencies. Gardaí and Revenue Customs had received intelligence in Ireland prior to Operation Piano that also assisted in the targeting of the five people buying the Castlemore, the fishing boat which was destined to be used to transfer the drugs from the MV Matthew. This information was then married up with MAOC-N information that ultimately led to the seizure. Ireland runs a coastwatch initiative where people can contact the authorities to tell them of suspicious activity. Top referenced the seizure of €51m worth of cocaine in Cork last week and spoke of the importance of liaising with the Irish public when dealing with organised crime. 'Both cases show that cooperation, both nationally and internationally is crucial, and Ireland is an example for others of how to organise yourself well nationally and connect that with international bodies such as MAOC-N. 'I want to highlight the point that often gets less attention, but in my view has been crucial in this case. Ireland was able to engage the public and ask them to report strange behavior of their individuals. It has been able to link local knowledge with intelligence coming from international partners. 'Tackling organised crime groups benefits from a resilient society where the public, police, and customs are closely linked. That is not to be underestimated part of the success in these cases,' he said. Top explained that part of the assessment carried out by MAOC-N is about deciding which country can best target individual shipments and that is how Ireland succeeded in the MV Matthew mission. '[We analyse] which country had the best chance of making a successful interdiction that would lead to a successful prosecution. 'And based on the intelligence brought in by several countries, [Irish] liaison officers based in Lisbon, Portugal, we were able to swiftly organise that Ireland had the chance of a successful engagement where evidence could be gathered. 'In addition, we were able to support Ireland with analysis on vessel movements that clearly showed that those on board had evil intentions. In supporting so we were not only able to support Ireland but also other countries to use their scarce resources effectively and efficiently,' he added. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
