AP News, July 3rd, 2007
Bales of a record haul of cocaine spilled from a smuggling boat that capsized off the coast of Ireland are washing up on the shores of County Cork, officials said Tuesday.
Police made the discovery accidentally when one of the suspected smugglers swam ashore Monday and reported that a colleague was still in the water off the southern Irish coast. A search turned up the missing smuggler and a flotilla of floating cocaine bundles.
Police Superintendent Tony Quilter said the cocaine haul already retrieved was estimated to exceed 1.5 tons and was worth $145 million _ a record for Ireland.
Police said Tuesday they had recovered about 60 bales and arrested the man who swam ashore and planned to arrest the other man after his release from a hospital. They were searching for two others seen running from the shore.
Police said the arrested man and his accomplice were both 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.
Cocaine is the fastest-growing illegal narcotic in Ireland, where a long-booming economy is funding a wave of recreational drug use.
Customs officials and police say Ireland is considered an ideal European landing point for drugs from Africa and South America, because it has the biggest territorial waters to police in Europe and one of the smallest navies. The rugged coastline of Cork, Ireland's southernmost point, has been a favored spot for drug smugglers for decades.
Ireland's previous record drug seizure in 1998 involved 660 pounds of cocaine valued at nearly $83 million. It was found on board a catamaran docked in the Cork port town of Kinsale.
