Cocaine Haul Washes Up On Irish Coastline: Dumped Or Ongoing Trafficking Operation?

A man walking on an isolated beach in the Irish town of Donegal found a suitcase-sized bale wrapped in plastic. He dragged it up to the beach, tied it to a plank of wood fearing it would be washed out to sea again and then called the police. 

The Garda, Irish police, arrived and searched the contents of the package and announced it contained cocaine worth more than $2 million.

“An Garda Síochána are investigating the circumstances of the discovery of a number of packages along the North Donegal coastline this morning, July 19 2023,” said a spokesperson.

Searches are ongoing on a number of coastal areas in County Donegal after other packages containing suspected cocaine were recently discovered on beaches in the area.

"The packages are suspected of containing a substance which is believed to be a controlled drug (cocaine), subject to analysis by Forensic Science Ireland (FSI),” announced authorities.

Concerns Over Drug Trafficking 

Local independent councillor Michael McClafferty said the find is of major concern for the area.

“We don’t know if this was an isolated incident or part of an ongoing criminal operation – whether these drugs came off a boat, perhaps a sinking one, or were just washed up onto the shore," he told BBC News NI. "but the concern, when you hear about an incident like this, is that criminals involved in the drugs underworld are trying to either gain a foothold in an area like ours or use it as a gateway to other parts of the country, either north or south.” 

Dumped Drugs Or Ongoing Operation?

Michael O'Sullivan, a former head of the European Union anti-drugs-smuggling agency said it was possible that the cocaine find was the result of a handover that went wrong and the drugs were dumped.

O'Sullivan said drugs are usually loaded onto large vessels in South America and offloaded onto smaller vessels in the Atlantic for transfer to Europe.

Another possibility is that if smugglers spot an Irish air corps craft or naval service ship in the area, "they will dump the drugs," O'Sullivan said, adding that the whole coastline of Europe was vulnerable to drug contraband.

"It's difficult to say at this stage, but either way it's a very costly expense to lose that much pure cocaine while it's being shipped." 

Photo: Released by Garda Síochána