A cocaine haul worth an estimated £30m seized off the coast of Ireland was due to arrive into Scotland by ferry this week, police have said.
Two Scots who were among four suspects detained in custody following the half-tonne seizure were in charge of the smuggling plot, it has been claimed.
The swoop which happened early on Tuesday morning, followed a two-day operation involving the Irish Naval Service backed up by an elite team of highly-trained Gardai officers.
Investigators say that they believe the drugs were destined for the UK market and had been arranged by a British-German crime syndicate. Two of the men were actually caught in possession of the estimated 443kgs of cocaine.
READ MORE: Fears over reprisals at gangland funeral for Glasgow mobsters Ross Monaghan and Eddie Lyons Jr
They were detained after the Garda Emergency Response Unit (ERU) and armed officers from the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau intercepted their van in Courtmacsherry, County Cork.
The two other members were arrested on board a fast rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) which was chased by two Naval Service RHIBs. The pair were held after the dinghy was stopped by armed members of the NS Maritime Interdiction Team off the nearby coast.
The police operation had been headed by the highly-secretive Garda National Surveillance Unit. Ireland's Joint Task Force (JFT) is comprised of An Garda Síochána, Revenue, Irish Naval Service, and Air Corps.
As well as the two Scots, an Englishman and a German, are also in custody. All four are said to be in their thirties or forties. Gardai sources describe the four as being “critical” in terms of the “logistics” of the operation.
It is believed that the drugs - suspected of being sourced from South America - were offloaded from a so-called "mother ship", a Barbadian-registered bulk carrier, in the open sea onto the RHIB which then brought the cocaine ashore at Broad Strand Beach, just south of Courtmacsherry.
Efforts are now being made to track the vessel which is thought to have docked legitimately at an Irish port before departing to meet up with the dinghy. According to narcotics experts', this is a trend which is being increasingly used by South American drug cartels.
Irish authorities spoke of their delight at the seizure. One source said: "The full team has been caught, along with the almost half-tonne of cocaine. There was full Joint Task Force (JTF) deployment and a great result achieved."
The search for the mother ship is now being co-ordinated through the EU drug interdiction agency, MAOC-N. Gardaí estimated the haul at €31m, based on the standard street value of €70,000 per kilo.
However, as the drug appears to be be un-cut and had not yet been "bulked out" - adding other materials such as chalk or paracetemol - the actual value is likely to be considerably more.
Tuesday's find comes four years after another massive seizure off the Cork coast. Around 2.25 tonnes was discovered on the mv Matthew in September 2023.
Last week, the Scottish Daily Express exclusively revealed that that seizure may have led to the double gangland shooting of two Glasgow men in a Spanish bar in May.
Underworld sources suggested that one of the victims, Ross Monaghan, 43, was involved, along with Steven Lyons, 44, in helping to fund the shipment but when it was discovered, it meant payment still was owed to the South American cartels.
The money was not forthcoming and as a result, Monaghan, paid for it with his life along with the second victim, his close friend, 46-year-old Eddie Lyons Jnr. West Cork Fine Gael Senator Noel O'Donovan and ex-member of An Garda Siochana commended the work of local and national units of the force, as well as the Naval Service and Air Corps.
He said: "Early indications say this operation was under surveillance for the last number of days, so that is a testament to all involved for their professionalism and success in combating the importation of drugs and its further transportation. This is a significant detection. The biggest drug bust in Ireland this year."
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