Naval Service fired shots twice as ship carrying drugs tried to flee
that Army Ranger Wing members were winched on to in stormy conditions on TuesdayA number of sources told The Irish Times it was possible the haul was worth well in excess of €100 million, though that would only become clear when the bulk carrier was properly searched in Cork Harbour on Wednesday.
The large vessel – the Panamanian-registered MV Matthew – was attempting to flee when the Naval Service’s LÉ William Butler Yeats and Air Corps helicopters closed in on it off the Co Cork coast on Tuesday. Weapons systems on the LÉ William Butler Yeats were fired twice as warning shots to deter the crew from persisting with their attempted escape.
After the rangers, the most elite unit in the Defence Forces, took control of the vessel, gardaí and Customs officers were able to also go on board. The Garda and Defence Forces were tracking the vessel on suspicion it was carrying cocaine and making deliveries of the drug to much smaller vessels at sea. One of those smaller vessels was the Castlemore trawler,
which ran aground on a sandbank about 12km off the coast of Blackwater, Co Wexford, late on Sunday nightTwo men – from the UK and eastern Europe – were eventually winched to safety from Coast Guard helicopter R117 in the early hours of Monday morning and on to the LÉ William Butler Yeats. They have since been arrested under anti-gangland legislation and were still in Garda custody in Co Wexford on Tuesday night.
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