The text message came from Dubai with a Santa emoji. 'OK lads. No need for luck. Really this couldn't be any more straightforward. Just relax and this will all be over soon.'
It was sent to a fisherman from Ukraine and an unemployed man from Teesside who were sailing to the middle of the Irish Sea to collect cocaine from a passing cargo ship, the MV Matthew.
As it turned out, they needed plenty of luck, and very little was straightforward.
The two men were part of an audacious attempt to traffic more than 2.2 tonnes of cocaine into the UK and Europe. It ended in failure, with a successful strike against the powerful drug cartels by the Irish authorities.
Eight men were convicted and jailed for a total of 129 years. All of the cocaine was destroyed.
But despite this result, law enforcement agencies across Europe admit they are struggling to stop the growing quantity of cocaine crossing the Atlantic from South America.
The Maritime Analysis Operations Centre (MAOC), which polices the transatlantic drug trade, says 100 ships suspected of trafficking drugs to Europe were not stopped last year due to insufficient resources for interception.
'We have the intelligence of the vessel that's crossing the Atlantic... that it's loaded at that time, and still we don't have the interception assets available,' said director Sjoerd Top.
Last year, UK users consumed 117 tonnes of cocaine, with drug-related deaths rising significantly since 2011. Drug smugglers increasingly turn to innovative at-sea drop-off methods due to heightened security in major European ports.
While the successful seizure of the cocaine from the MV Matthew was a significant win for Irish authorities, it underscored ongoing vulnerabilities in the country’s defense against drug trafficking.
Eugene Ryan, a former naval commander, emphasized that Ireland remains a target for cartels seeking to exploit its geographical advantages, but the nation’s defense operations are stretched thin, raising concerns about the future fight against drug trafficking.
It was sent to a fisherman from Ukraine and an unemployed man from Teesside who were sailing to the middle of the Irish Sea to collect cocaine from a passing cargo ship, the MV Matthew.
As it turned out, they needed plenty of luck, and very little was straightforward.
The two men were part of an audacious attempt to traffic more than 2.2 tonnes of cocaine into the UK and Europe. It ended in failure, with a successful strike against the powerful drug cartels by the Irish authorities.
Eight men were convicted and jailed for a total of 129 years. All of the cocaine was destroyed.
But despite this result, law enforcement agencies across Europe admit they are struggling to stop the growing quantity of cocaine crossing the Atlantic from South America.
The Maritime Analysis Operations Centre (MAOC), which polices the transatlantic drug trade, says 100 ships suspected of trafficking drugs to Europe were not stopped last year due to insufficient resources for interception.
'We have the intelligence of the vessel that's crossing the Atlantic... that it's loaded at that time, and still we don't have the interception assets available,' said director Sjoerd Top.
Last year, UK users consumed 117 tonnes of cocaine, with drug-related deaths rising significantly since 2011. Drug smugglers increasingly turn to innovative at-sea drop-off methods due to heightened security in major European ports.
While the successful seizure of the cocaine from the MV Matthew was a significant win for Irish authorities, it underscored ongoing vulnerabilities in the country’s defense against drug trafficking.
Eugene Ryan, a former naval commander, emphasized that Ireland remains a target for cartels seeking to exploit its geographical advantages, but the nation’s defense operations are stretched thin, raising concerns about the future fight against drug trafficking.
