GONE FISHING

Drug dopes gave bogus ‘fishing trip’ reason to buy €400k cocaine trawler – then beached it after space tech move

• Published: 7:00, 29 Sep 2023

THE trawler beached off the Wexford coast while on a drugs run was sold to two “foreigners” in Castletownbere for up to €400,000 the day before.

The 15-metre Castlemore had been on the market for three years, owned by a member of a prominent fishing family hamstrung by strict EU fishing quotas in the Co Cork harbour town.

The Irish Sun can reveal that the non-cash sale to buyers who claimed they were going on a fishing trip to the UK — but were instead plotting to hook up with the MV Matthew in a €500million cocaine importation ring — was legitimate.

After a test run, a bill of sale was drawn up and the new owners quickly bought and installed a top-of-the-range Elon Musk SpaceX satellite system before they left Castletownbere.

Within hours, the boat left Co Cork purportedly for Devon, but instead it’s believed it headed off to rendezvous with the mother ship laden with over 2.25 tonnes of coke.

Worth €157million, the drugs could have a total street value of over half a billion once mixed and prepared for sale.

The Castlemore is believed to have been sold at its asking price of between €300,000 and €400,000. 

Two men who were described by locals as “foreign” arrived in the Co Cork fishing port last Friday with a view to purchasing the former Irish-registered fishing vessel.

They took the boat out for a couple of hours off the Castletownbere coastline and agreed to buy it.

A bill of sale had been drawn up and was signed by both parties while a local Peace Commissioner was also used to sign off on the extensive paperwork.

Local sources say payment was made by a bank transfer.

The CEO of the Irish South and West Fish Producers Organisation, Patrick Murphy, revealed: “It was a legitimate transaction and all above board. The seller had no idea that the buyer was going to use the boat for criminal purposes, they hadn’t a clue.

“The buyer told them they were bringing the boat to Brixham in Devon and it was to be used for fishing. The deal was done in honest good faith. There was a proper, legitimate bill of sale and it was signed by a Peace Commissioner.

“The owner of the Castlemore sold the boat because he could no longer fish because Ireland keeps giving away our fishing quotas. The family had been trying to sell it for three years.”

The 21-year-old twin rigger had been bought by a local fisherman in Castletownbere in 2017 and used to fish for prawn and white fish off the southwest coast. 

Yesterday a tug, supported by the Irish Lights Vessel Granuaile, arrived at the sandbank off Blackwater, Co Wexford, where the ship ran aground.

SALVAGE OP

A major salvage operation began just before 2pm on Thursday to try to recover the beached trawler while its crew remain under arrest in local garda stations.

The Coast Guard Rescue 117 helicopter has also returned to the scene  and circled the sandbank.

Mr Murphy said fisherman all over Ireland are wary about who they sell their disused trawlers to after a recent incident in another part of the country.

A trawler was sold by an individual and later seized by the Gardai after it was used for criminal purposes. The money the owner was paid was subsequently frozen.

Mr Murphy said: “Selling a fishing trawler is like selling a car without a licence. It is also normal practice to have a test drive like these lads did. There was no question they knew how to handle a boat, they just had to adapt to a new vessel for them.

“No fisherman in their right mind would ever sell a trawler if they thought it was going to be used for crime.”

He also said he wasn’t surprised drug traffickers are coming to Ireland to buy boats.

The Irish Sun can also reveal investigators suspect three major Irish crime gangs worked together to help facilitate the shipment.

They include representatives from the Kinahan cartel led by Daniel Kinahan, ‘The Family’ mob and the gang run by ‘Mr Big’.