Eight men who pleaded guilty to their involvement in the largest drug seizure in the history of the State have been jailed for a combined 129 years.
Six men were caught aboard the MV Matthew, while two others tried to offload drugs and board a second ship in the Irish Sea in September 2023.
Newstalk’s court reporter Frank Greaney told The Hard Shoulder that the ship used sophisticated technology to evade being detected by authorities.
“AIS [Automatic Identification System] spoofing, the court was told about, this involved falsifying of navigation broadcasts, essentially looping the ship off Venezuela to conceal its true route,” he said.
“As part of this drug trafficking operation on the 22nd of September 2023, a fishing trawler called Castlemore was bought in Ireland for the purpose of rendezvousing with the MV Matthew when it arrived in Irish waters to receive the 2.2 tonnes of cocaine onboard the cargo ship.
“However, two days later, this fishing trawler got into some trouble in choppy waters, and ran aground off the coast of Wexford.
“The two men on board were rescued by the Coast Guard and they were among the eight people that were sentenced before the Special Criminal Court.”
Frank said that when the two men were rescued, the MV Matthew was still “skirting Irish territory waters”.
Ruth Kennedy - Commissioner with Revenue Customs Service speaking to media at Haulbowline Naval base in Cork. 05/07/2025. Video via Jamie O'Hara.
The ship reported engine trouble to try and justify its strange movements, but the Irish Coast Guard became suspicious and engaged with the ship.
“The Navy vessel William Butler Yeats moved in, the MV Matthew ignored verbal orders from the Navy ship, so it declared itself a warship in dramatic fashion – warning shots fired across the bow of the MV Matthew,” Frank said.
“Those initial shots fired from a rifle did not deter the crew, so the William Butler Yeats engaged its deck mounted machine gun on board.
“[The court] heard WhatsApp messages from a Dubai-based crime syndicate instructed the crew to 'haul ass' to Sierra Leone and to be prepared to burn the cocaine if needed to get out of the Irish water.”
Dave Caunter- Director of Organised and Emerging Crime Section, Interpol. speaking to media at Haulbowline Naval base in Cork. 05/07/2025. Video via Jamie O'Hara.
However, the crew was unable to either evade Irish authorities or burn the drugs before they were caught.
According to Frank, the cocaine seized from the ship was estimated to have a street value of €157 million; the highest seizure of drugs in the history of the State.
Main image: Photo shows Garda Superintendent Liam Geraghty, Detective Superintendent Joe O’Reilly, Revenue Customs Service Shane Conway, and Jason O’Brien Irish Naval Service, at a Joint Task Force press briefing outside the CCJ. Photograph: Leah Farrell / © RollingNews.ie. 04/07/2025
