Gardaí want Ireland to be viewed as a “hostile environment” for international maritime drug traffickers as it relaunched an initiative aimed at identifying suspicious activity along the northwest coastline.
The Donegal Divisional Coastal Watch project, which encourages members of the public to look out for and report suspicious activity at sea, covers more 1,100km of coastline.
“We want to make Ireland a safe place to live and a hostile environment for transnational criminals,” Det Insp Shane McCartan of the Garda National and Organised Crime Bureau told the launch in Killybegs on Monday.
Maritime drug smuggling has come to prominence in recent years, notably in September 2023 when the MV Matthew, a cargo ship registered in Panama, was intercepted by the Naval Service and gardaí off the coast of Cork.
RM Block
That resulted in one of Ireland’s largest ever drug seizures with over 2.2 tonnes of cocaine valued at €157 million. The operation, involving the Army Ranger Wing, followed an international intelligence-led investigation targeting a big transnational drug trafficking network.
Andrew Ryan, Revenue’s maritime operations manager, said the seizure “sent a key message to Europe [and] to organised crime groups worldwide that Ireland is very capable of protecting the frontier.
“Since then there’s been a number of high-profile maritime smuggling operations as well where we have targeted mother and daughter vessels attempting to smuggle drugs into Ireland.
“All of those operations that we’ve actually executed have successfully ended up with the detention of vessels, the seizure of controlled drugs and also the arrest of members of organised crime groups who are trying to use Ireland as a location.”
The initiative was established over three decades ago. It aims to highlight suspicious or unusual activity and encourages the public to look out for packages floating in the sea, on beaches or hidden close to the shoreline.
Boat crews landing in remote areas; unusual objects such as buoys or signalling devices; ships at anchor close to land or islands, or away from normal shipping lanes; and vessels signalling ashore or being met by small craft are among other potential warning signs.
In July 2023, about 60kg of drugs with an estimated street value of up to €4 million were found washed up on two beaches in north Donegal – the largest consignment ever located in the county.
Donegal Chief Supt Goretti Sheridan said: “We want to make Donegal a no-go zone. We don’t want this happening again.
“It is just everybody working together to combat drug importation. All efforts are being made now to strengthen that defence and to ensure that Ireland and the coastline isn’t seen as an easy destination for these people.”
Assistant Garda Commissioner Cliona Richardson described the Coastal Watch initiative as an extension of neighbourhood watch.
“We are committed to dismantling disorganised crime groups and the importation of drugs.”
Later this week, the Revenue’s new 35mcustom patrol cutter, the RCC Cosaint, costing €8.75 million, will be launched.
“[It] will allow us to have a greater endurance at sea,” said Mr Ryan. “It will also support multiagency operations with our colleagues in An Garda Síochána for anti-smuggling operations.”
