A bust of huge medicines reveals battles on cocaine “highway”

The text message came from Dubai with the educational symbols. “Well, boys. No luck. Really, this cannot be more clear. Just relax and all this will end soon.”

He was sent to a fisherman from Ukraine and an unemployed man from Tised was sailing to the middle of the Irish Sea to collect cocaine from a passing cargo ship, MV Matthew.

As it turned out, they needed a lot of luck and it was not very little.

The two men were part of a bold traffic attempt more than 2.2 tons of cocaine to the United Kingdom and Europe. It was unsuccessful, with a successful strike against the strong drug cartals by the Irish authorities.

Eight men were convicted and imprisoned for 129 years. All cocaine were destroyed.

But despite this result, law enforcement agencies around Europe recognize that they are fighting to stop the increasing amount of cocaine that crosses the Atlantic Ocean of South America.

The Marine Analysis Operations Center (MAOC), which controls the drug trafficking, says 100 ships suspected of smuggling drugs to Europe did not stop last year because the authorities did not have enough ships to intercept them.

“We have the intelligence of the ship that crosses the Atlantic Ocean … which was downloaded at that time, and we still do not have the assets of the objection available,” says its manager, Sjoerd Top, to Panorama.

He adds that up to 600 ships are monitored by MAOC every day, while standard quantities of cocaine are produced in South America.

UK users reported 117 tons of cocaine last year, according to the National Crime Agency. The number of cocaine deaths has increased ten times since 2011.

The drug is usually shipped in large container ships to European ports such as Rotterdam and Anwairb. But security has been tightened there, so smugglers are looking for alternative ways.

Many now use the lowering methods of the sea, emptying the balls of cocaine from the “mother” bowl that is captured by the daughter of the “smaller” daughter and transferred to the beach.

“We have intercepted cocaine tons in the past six months alone, and there are multiple, and two ton seizures through this method in the sea,” told us, there are multiple tons of tons through this method at sea, “tells us Charlie Esto, the naval director of the UK border power.

But the Cartitals are not softening and increasingly targeting Ireland – the only European country with open borders with the United Kingdom – a rear kebab.

Ireland has approximately 2000 miles of the coastal line, many of which are perfect for smuggling, with hundreds of isolated entrances.

This coast is weak. The country’s defense forces help to combat the cartridges. Ireland has the lowest defensive spending in the European Union, only 0.2 % of GDP. Irish marine service contains eight ships, but it can usually put only two on the sea due to a lack of sailors.

“We have 132,000 square miles of water under our jurisdiction. The European Union’s responsibility for 16 % of European waters … two ships. This is meaningless.”

It is the same with air support. The Irish Defense Forces are supposed to provide helicopters to help protect the coastal line. But Panorama was told that sometimes he does not have a available one who can do this task.

“The drug highway comes directly across the Atlantic Ocean and one of the first countries to reach is Ireland. Our regional waters are really free for everyone, it is like the wild West there,” says Cathal Perry, the former Irish army commander.

The Irish government says it maintains a “continuous and harsh presence” in its maritime field. She says defense financing will increase by 600 million euros (520 million pounds) – an increase of 55 % over a period of four years – and “important initiatives … also resulted in the establishment of the force of marine service.”

While the cocaine registered Nubia on MV Matthew was successful for the Irish state, it also showed possible weaknesses in the country’s defenses.

A group of cartals, which is believed to have law enforcement, bought the reputation organized crime group, the shipping ship for about 10 million pounds in August 2023.

In the middle of September, three men were sent to buy a path called The Castlemore in the fishing port of Castletownbere, in southwest Ireland.

They were Ukrainian Vitaly Laba, Jimmy Harbron of Stockon On Tays and a Scottish man who arrived from Dubai-who called the Personal Personal.

The police were watching, while the Scottish supervised the payment of 300,000 euros (260,000 pounds) from a construction company in Dubai. Panorama knew him as Glassojian Stefan Boyd – although it was not known whether he had played a wider role.

Boyd returned to the first degree in Dubai, where he is believed to remain. Panorama could not contact him for comment.

Lapa and Habron – who later condemned – took Kasalmour to the sea on Friday, September 22nd, and they did not know that the police installed a tracker on the ship.

The police later obtained messages that showed that the crew was obtaining instructions from Dubai.

Irish authorities have tracked MV Matthew and Castlemore over the next two days, as the ship tried, but failed, to excite the Irish Sea during storms. Fishing faced engine problems and intermittent energy loss.

As the weather exacerbated, the MVCo team captain, Soheil Jelveh, wanted to go north, but Dubai presidents warned him against avoiding UK waters. “The Irish Coast Guard is only VHF, and the British coasts also have boats.”

At that time, Irish navy had only one ship in the sea, WB Yeats. It was, in fact, the smugglers were already following and waiting for an order to intervene.

On Sunday night, Castlemore ran on a sand bank in the storm and the trader was forced to call for the Irish Coast Guard to save them. It has been cut on safety by a helicopter.

In MV Matthew, panic began. It was transferred to safety by the Coast Guard, who was not aware of the marine operation.

In the hospital, he discovered that Jelveh had more than $ 50,000 (37,982 pounds) in his bag. He was arrested after jumping from the bed and trying to make the doors of the hospital.

Meanwhile, a Filipino man, Harold Estista, took over as a leader and tried to evade the navy.

Voice messages and texts tell the story of the next few hours.

A president in Dubai, who calls Captain Noah, told the crew to hold their nerves.

He said in a voice message: “My tension level is close to a heart attack. Try to be calm, be calm. Full prices.”

But the navy ordered MV Matthew to redirect to CORK – ultimately shooting warning footage. The first time in the eighties.

One of the recorded exchange gives a feeling of drama, as he told the new marine commander, “We are afraid. We will go away because you shoot us. Please do not shoot at us. My pants now feel panic, cry.”

“You don’t have to be afraid. All I ask is to start in the port of Cork.”

Irish authorities decided to ride MV Matthew using the Irish Army Rangers wing, but there were no appropriate helicopters.

Five were in a hanger, waiting for spare parts and service. The only exciting helicopter of aircraft was used as an air ambulance.

“They had to strip all medical equipment and re -hand them over to military tasks,” says Kathal Perry, Deputy Commander of the Rangers Pavilion. Two machine guns are installed quickly.

Dubai presidents still do not believe that the Irish army can prevent them.

Captain Noah told them in a voice message, “Guys, please listen to me.

The final messages sent to team captain Noah from MV Matthew were pictures of a helicopter homing above the ship. After seconds, Rangers fell on the deck and seized the crew.

Against difficulties, despite the lack of ships and helicopters, the drug statue was a victory for the Irish state.

Since then, four other traffic attempts have been revealed large quantities of cocaine to the United Kingdom by the Irish police. But the travelers are unabated and have huge resources.

“If you are in Narco now, I will rub my hand together,” says Eugene Ryan, the former commander of the Irish navy fleet.

“If they send 20 tons of cocaine on a number of ships and others are arrested, they will get 12-15 tons.”

Drug smuggling is an increasing problem throughout Europe – and those who lead the fighting say that every country needs more effort to stop it.