Just one Navy ship available for massive drugs operation
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Intelligence sources say there could be potentially billions of euro of cocaine on the seized container ship brought into Cork Harbour by the navy and it could take several days to search its cargo holds and possible hidden compartments.
Former Irish navy commander Eugene Ryan — who helped found the worldwide anti-drugs surveillance centre MAOC(N) in 2007 and spearheaded the interception of the two largest drug seizures in Ieland worth a combined €1.3bn — said the navy is so denuded of ships and experienced personnel that they were lucky to pull off the operation with just one vessel.
He said that the two major operations he coordinated in 2007 and 2008 — the Dances with Waves yacht seizure off Castletownbere and the Dunlough Bay seizure — required three navy ships to do the job.
Mr Ryan said the single ship on this week's operation was not enough, pointing out that if it had broken down it could not have gone from the Wexford area to intercept the trawler and then go on to detain ‘the mother ship’ cargo vessel off the Cork coast.
The trawler was supposed to offload a proportion of the drugs for the Irish market from the container ship in what is know as “coopering”.
Speaking on RTÉ radio’s , Mr Ryan pointed out that when he joined the navy as a cadet in 1972 there were approximately 350 personnel and 32 officers.
“When I retired 40 years later, the strength was 1200 all ranks and eight operational ships," he said.
"In my 11 years of retirement I have seen the navy being decimated to approximately 700 personnel and two operational ships, despite the Navy's fleet being the newest and best equipped we've ever had.
“Hundreds of millions of taxpayers money is lying alongside, not being used due to personnel shortages.”
He also said that the Irish navy needs sonar capabilities, not alone to combat drug smuggling, but to inspect vital TransAtlantic cables.
The navy is now at its lowest strength since the 1970s and, according to Mr Ryan, “we are not now fulfilling our EU commitment to the ethos of MAOC(N), of which we are a member.”
“Naval forces are vital for every nation, and we are very vulnerable at the moment,” he said.
Mr Ryan said he had great admiration for the people still serving, but the demands on the navy were in excess of what they could do. The people still serving were not being paid the money they deserved, he said.
“There's no excuse for this. We've got to pay our people if our naval service is to exist. I can see it because I live in Cobh. I can see it every single day," he said.
"People coming to me saying they've just left the navy after 30 years, after 28 years or whatever, because they need more money to pay a mortgage or whatever.”
Intelligence sources suggest that the two men who purchased the trawler in Castletownbere aroused suspicion amongst fishermen as they didn’t seem to have much knowledge of the trade.
It is understood that British and US intelligence were also involved in helping the interception by providing satellite tracking.
The transfer from the container ship to the trawler was originally planned off the Cork coast.
However, with a storm front coming it was decided by the drugs barons to make the transfer nearer to the Irish Sea where weather conditions would be less severe.