High seize | 

Scottish organised crime gang behind €157m cocaine shipment seized in dramatic swoop

‘There’s no doubt but that there were criminals awaiting delivery from this shipment in a number of different jurisdictions’

Today at 07:22

MEMBERS of a Scottish organised crime group (OCG) are now suspected of being behind the massive two-tonne shipment of cocaine seized in Irish waters this week.

The Scottish OCG is suspected of directing the European end of operations, while the Dubai-based Kinahan Cartel facilitated the wholesale shipment from the Clan de Golfo drug cartel in Colombia.

More than 2.25 tonnes of what is believed to be pure cocaine was recovered when Army Rangers stormed the deck of the cargo ship MV Matthew in the early hours of Tuesday.

An official value of €157 million has been placed on the drugs by authorities but, sources say, the cocaine is believed to be pure and would, when cut and bulked-up for end users, have earned the criminals involved up to €500 million.

Among the 20-man crew of the MV Matthew were 13 Filipino sailors who were paid US$1,000 a week to staff the 190-metre-long, 32-metre-wide vessel on its five-week voyage from Curaçao, a Dutch-Caribbean island located roughly 30km north of Venezuela.

“It appears these lads were simply being paid a seaman’s wage to crew the ship,” a source said.

“There’s no evidence currently to say they were going to benefit beyond that.

“Although, you would have thought they must have had their suspicions when told they were going to crew an empty cargo ship across the Atlantic.”

Also present on the ship were two Iranians, the captain, first officer and four Ukrainians, as well as another individual travelling on a Dutch passport.

The source said the two-tonne shipment would have been broken into at least four half-tonne consignments for delivery off-shore to trawlers off the coasts of Ireland, the UK and Europe.

“There’s no doubt but that there were criminals awaiting delivery from this shipment in a number of different jurisdictions,” the source said.

Asked whether it was likely Irish-based criminals would have liaised with the Kinahan Cartel in organising the shipment, the source replied: “The suspicion is a Scottish OCG was directing it.”

The Kinahan Cartel was known previously to have strong associations with organised crime in Scotland.

Scottish Conservative MSP Russell Findlay said last year it was “widely known” that the Kinahans worked in partnership with the feared Scottish crime clan the Lyons.

It was also alleged by the US Department of Treasury last year that the Kinahan gang had used a Glasgow-based vodka brand ‘Nero Drinks’ as a front company to help launder its drugs cash.

Although five members of MV Matthew crew have now been arrested, the rest remain on board while the vessel is examined at Cork Harbour.

It’s further understood the condition of the ship itself has led authorities to suspect it may have been the subject of a previous drug payload.

“The ship had been ripped asunder previously,” a source said.

“Panels had been ripped out and the interior has been cut into in a manner that would suggest a previous search for drugs was carried out on it.”

The company that currently owns the MV Matthews, Matthew Maritime Inc, was only set up in July of this year out of an address listed in the Marshall Islands.

The sole ship in the company’s ownership is the MV Matthew, which was registered on August 10.

The specific Marshall Islands address provided by the owners has also been used previously by US-sanctioned shipping companies.

The MV Matthew’s journey to Ireland began on August 19, departing from Curaçao.

The bulk carrier sailed southeast along the coast of Venezuela, before spending two weeks seemingly at anchor off the coast of Guyana in South America.

Its location data shows it remaining static for 16 days from August 22 until September 7, before setting off across the Atlantic.

It’s suspected the drugs found may have been loaded on board in a vessel-to-vessel sea transfer during this period.

At a press conference earlier held earlier this week, Assistant Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said a consortium of criminal gangs from Ireland, South

America and elsewhere were behind the smuggling attempt.

However, he declined to be more specific, except to say the drugs came from “one of the murderous cartels” based in Colombia.

This is understood to have been a reference to the Clan de Golfo drug cartel.

On Tuesday, the same day the drugs were seized, the US sanctioned Clan de Golfer’s leader Jobanis de Jesus Avila Villadiego.

He took over the Clan del Golfo last year after it was announced the group’s previous leader was to be extradited to the U.S

Better known as “Chiquito Malo”, Avila is under indictment in the Southern District of Florida for cocaine trafficking and in the Eastern District of New York for being engaged in a continuing criminal enterprise.

The Clan de Golfo is Colombia’s largest drug cartel and one of the most powerful criminal organisations in the world.

The crime syndicate recruits its members mainly from former right-wing paramilitaries and is said to have around 6,000 men under arms.

In addition to drug trafficking, the Gulf clan is also involved in illegal mining and racketeering and has been responsible for numerous murders.

By the time, the MV Matthew entered Irish waters on September 23, Gardai said a joint task force, comprising of personnel from the Defence Forces, Revenue and gardai, had already been set up with the intention of intercepting and boarding the ship.

The decision to board the ship and search it for drugs, a decision that led to the largest seizure of cocaine in Irish history, had been based on international intelligence.