A number of officers from the Garda National Drugs Unit (GNDU) have travelled to Spain after the detention of a catamaran in La Coruña in connection with the investigation into last week's huge cocaine haul in west Cork.
GNDU officers will liaise with Spanish police who are questioning two Lithuanian men arrested on board the catamaran, Lucky Day.
Gardaí are still awaiting the results of forensic analysis of the catamaran which they believe may provide possible fingerprint evidence which can be linked to a number of suspects in custody, a special sitting of Clonakilty District Court was told over the weekend.
Gardaí were also awaiting the results of interviews with the two Lithuanians arrested on board, Chief Supt Kevin Ludlow told the special hearing held to consider an application to extend the period of detention for two men arrested near Schull last Wednesday.
He said gardaí had also seized a Volkswagen Passat in Kilcrohane on Saturday, which they believed they could link to one of the arrested men, and found that it contained an extensive amount of documents as well as three mobile phones which have to be technically examined.
The documentation was extensive and included receipts, prescriptions and notes which appeared to be written in code and which were "complex and cryptic" and all of these had to be examined and the results of that examination put to the prisoners, said Chief Supt Ludlow.
Gardaí had also obtained 36 separate items of CCTV footage and these are currently being examined by a team of 10 detectives for the purpose of identifying people and the results of their examination also need to be put to the prisoners, he said.
The court also heard that a mobile phone had been found on board the catamaran and it too needed to be analysed to see if it was possibly linked to the three mobile phones found in the Volkswagen Passat.
Inquiries were ongoing both nationally and internationally into the origins and destination of the cocaine, which was valued at more than €100 million, and into the logistical support that needed to be in place for such an operation, he added. Chief Supt Ludlow said the investigation was being carried out diligently and expeditiously and instanced the fact that gardaí had employed the Garda helicopter to transport items to the Garda Technical Bureau in Dublin to allow for speedier analysis.
Meanwhile it is expected that gardaí will today either seek to extend the time of detention of a man in his 40s plucked from the sea at Dunlough Bay or else charge him in connection with the huge cocaine seizure.
The cocaine was found floating in Dunlough Bay in more than 60 bales on Monday of last week. It was discovered by marine rescue services who put to sea after a man swam ashore and said he and two others had been tossed out of a small boat in bad weather.
