Photographs Of Drugs Smuggling "LUCKY DAY" Which Has Been Detained In Spain

Photos

Man Charged Over €210m Cork Cocaine Haul

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Story Updates

This story gets more complicated by the day. 

A woman whose dead baby's identity was used by suspected
drug smugglers says she is shocked and heartbroken. Mary O'Leary from
Northern Ireland learned from a news report that a gang (see main story
below), suspected of smuggling 100m euro of drugs in Cork, used her
son's name.

Her Son Gerard O'Leary was born on 2 July 1985 and
died less than 12 hours later and was later buried at Loughlurgan
Cemetery, Monaghan.  "Our whole family is gutted by this. I'm
heartbroken. It is an awful thing for the child's name to be connected
to," she said.

Tuesday June 10:  Two more men have been charged in connection with last week's cocaine haul in west Cork. 40-year-old Joe Daly with an address at 9 Carisbrooke Avenue, Bexley in Kent and 44-year-old Martin Wanden, with no fixed address who is also known as Anthony Claud Linden, both appeared before the District Court in Skibbereen.

Sunday June 8: Navy divers have resumed diving in Dunlough Bay at the site where an inflatable boat capsized last Monday as part of the on-going investigation into the seizure of more than Euro 100 million of cocaine in the bay. The sea is being searched for any bales that might still be in the water following Monday's drugs haul.

A 23-year-old man has been charged in connection with the seizure of cocaine in west Cork. Gerard Hagan, with an address in Liverpool, was charged with possession of cocaine for sale and supply at Dunlough Bay, Mizen Head on 2 July. The court was told that the Police are awaiting the results of forensic examiniations of three jeeps and two houses, as well as the results of interviews being carried out by Spanish police.

Main Story

Previously it was reported here at nowpublic that drugs valued at more than $100,000,000 were found off the Irish coast by the crew of an RNLI rescue craft during an emergency callout. Since then there have been a number of developments.

1. Four men are being held in Ireland in connection with attempting to smuggle drugs into Ireland. Police said that two of the men are suspected English drug smugglers based in Spain and Ireland. They believe the cocaine was smuggled from South America to West Africa and then on to Britain and Ireland for sale.
   
2. Irish police (gardaí) working with the navy have accessed the memory of navigational equipment seized from a Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) and this has given them positional information on the movements of the RIB and the position of other vessels.
3. Two men were arrested in Spain this morning after a catamaran named 'Lucky Day' was detained by Spanish police.The vessel which was sailing under the US flag was seized at sea and escorted to the port of La Coruna where it is now under armed guard.
4. The "Lucky Day" was recently sold via the internet so we can supply some photographs.
   
5. According to local media cocaine is the fastest-growing illegal narcotic in Ireland, where a long-booming economy is funding a wave of recreational drug use.
6. Irish officials have confirmed that the rugged coastline of Cork, Ireland's southernmost point, has been a favored spot for drug smugglers for decades. They also accept that as Ireland has the biggest territorial waters to police in Europe and one of the smallest navies the chances of detecting illegal activities are very low.
7. According to the Irish Independent reporeter Ralph Riege the international drug gang behind the cocaine smuggling operation off the Irish coast are amongst the most feared and ruthless in Europe. Based primarily in London and Amsterdam, the gang have connections in Spain, the Caribbean and North Africa. They are one of the prime suppliers of cocaine to the money-spinning London market -- and are feared for the vicious tactics they will employ to protect their smuggling pipeline and drug profits. Several high-profile gangland murders in Britain and the EU have been attributed to the gang -- and most resulted from attempts by other crime organizations to move onto their turf.
   

Dunlough bay

Coordinates
UTM : MT40
Geographical coordinates in decimal degrees (WGS84)
Latitude : 51.473
Longitude : -9.825

Geographical coordinates in degrees minutes seconds (WGS84)
Latitude : 51 28' 24''
Longitude : -9 49' 31''

DESCRIPTION OF THE BOAT

Yacht Name:     Lucky Day
 Year Built/Model Year:     1997
 L O A:     35'
 Model:     Tobago 35
 Builder:     Fountaine Pajot
 USD ($) Price:     $132,000
 Location:     Sailing between Grenada and Martinique (Caribbean)
 Beam:     19'
 Draft Max:     3'1"
 Displacement:     8,800 lbs.
 Engine(s):     2 x Volvo
 Engine Model:     Penta MD 2020
 Engine Hours:     2400
 Engine Hp:     20
 Berths:     8
 Staterooms:     2
 Heads:     2
 Fuel Capacity:     31 gallons
 Fresh Water Capacity:     55 gallons
 Hull Material:     Fiberglass
 Engine/Fuel Type:     Diesel

===IRISH NAVY===

Naval service vessels are all named with traditional Irish female names, taken from history and Celtic mythology. The ship prefix LÉ stands for Long Éireannach, "Irish ship" in the Irish language. Its current strength is eight offshore patrol vessels:
LÉ Emer (P21)
LÉ Aoife (P22)
LÉ Aisling (P23)
LÉ Eithne (P31)
LÉ Orla (P41)
LÉ Ciara (P42)
LÉ Róisín (P51)
LÉ Niamh (P52)
The service also operates smaller training vessels and inflatable sea going craft.

===LIFEBOAT SERVICE===

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is a charity based in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland dedicated to saving lives at sea around the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland. It is largely a volunteer organisation and was founded on 4 March 1824 as the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, adopting the present name in 1854. Its UK operations are funded entirely by membership fees, voluntary donations and legacies from members of the public. The Irish Government pays to support the RNLI's operations in Irish waters but exercises no direct influence on the organisation. The headquarters of the RNLI are in Poole, Dorset, along with its new training college which was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004.