60ft Yacht Stormed in Irish Waters for Drug Haul

5:15 AM Sat 8 Nov 2008 GMT

'Cocaine being unloaded from Dances With Waves' .

It was a moment of high drama this week when armed teams stormed the 60ft yacht in the Atlantic Ocean 150 nautical miles off the south west coast of Ireland in gale force winds and seven metre waves. On board they found what they were looking for - 75 bales of Cocaine valued at over half a billion Euro, and the biggest drug haul in Irish history.

The yacht, Dances with Waves, with two British and an Irish man on board were arrested, and, in the horrendous conditions, the yacht towed into a small fishing port, Castletownbere Harbour, in County Cork. It was an operation which involved Ireland's naval, customs and police services. The yacht, which was once registered in Britain, was being forensically examined at an Irish port yesterday.

Dances with Waves arriving into port - AP Photo/PA - .. .

The luxury 60ft McGregor sloop was crippled with damaged sails and boom when it arrived into port, having sailed for almost 30 hours to shore under escort. It had already been severely damaged in a storm during the Atlantic crossing.

The yacht had been tracked for up to a month as it sailed from the Caribbean towards the Irish coast, before armed officers stormed it at around 10pm on Wednesday. Customs official Brian Smyth said the 75 bales were literally thrown into a storage area, just past the living quarters of the yacht's hull.

Ireland has become a favoured drop-off point in international drug smuggling routes from South America and west Africa to Britain and Europe.

Local fishermen said they were not surprised by the haul. One fisherman said his trawler had twice caught bales of drugs lying on the seabed.

However, according to drug squad sources, the men arrested are suspected of being 'mules', unassociated with any major underworld figures, and lured by easy money into making the journey.

As the drugs were bound for the streets of Europe, this didn't stop security chiefs across Europe from "popping champagne corks" at the record-breaking haul masterminded by an international agency in Lisbon, Portugal, one Irish Government official said.

by BW Media News Roundup