EXCLUSIIVE

MEGA SWOOP 

Businessman who ‘operated under the radar’ quizzed over €8m Narcos-style cocaine bust bankrolled by Kinahan Cartel

• , Crime Editor

• 8:00, 6 Aug 2022

A BUSINESSMAN with previous links to the travel industry was last night being quizzed over a Narcos-style €8.4m cocaine smuggling operation for the Kinahan cartel.

The Irish Sun can reveal the businessman is one of two men being held over the massive seizure.

Investigators believe the man – classified as a “professional enabler” – used the cover of his links to the travel industry to hide his role within a major trans-national organised crime gang.

Under ‘Operation Tara’, two cars were stopped by officers from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau in the Lough Owel area of Co Westmeath around 6pm on Thursday.

Inside one of the vehicles, gardai recovered the huge stash hidden inside six holdalls and one suitcase.

In a follow up search, gardai recovered the Cessna light aircraft at an air-strip in Co Longford.

A number of encrypted phones were also seized during the raid.

They believe the plane flew into Ireland from France with the huge haul, which was destined for the Irish market.

The second man, 40, arrested is originally from Eastern Europe but had been a resident in Ireland for a number of years.

Both men, one of them the pilot of the plane, are also regarded as being ‘under the radar’ and aren’t major gangland criminals.

One source told us: “The businessman who was arrested is one of many figures who specialise in logistics for major transnational organised crime gangs.

“They are people who operate under the garda radar but play a key role in the crime gangs.

“This operation will have caused a significant blow to a major crime gang who have the resources and capability to arrange such a shipment.”

As the investigation continues, gardai are working closely with the Irish aviation industry to establish the plane’s movements in recent times.

‘CONSIDERABLE QUANTITY’

They are also satisfied that they have dismantled a major drugs smuggling route into Ireland.

Officers are also working closely with the authorities in France.

The seizure was welcomed by Assistant Commissioner Justin Kelly, the head of Organised and Serious Crime, said:

The senior officer said: “This operation has prevented a considerable quantity of dangerous drugs from making it on to our streets and causing significant harm to our communities.

“An Garda Siochana is committed, under Operation Tara, to disrupting and dismantling the organised criminal networks who profit from drug trafficking and impact so negatively on our society.”

So far this year, €35m worth of drugs have been recovered by the GNDOCB, who work closely with Revenue and Customs, while €16m worth of drugs have been recovered by detectives and the gardai’s divisional drug units across the country.