By DubhEire
The message came from Dubai, complete with a Santa emoji: “OK lads. No need for luck. Really this couldn’t be any more straightforward. Just relax and this will all be over soon.”
It was sent to a Ukrainian fisherman and an unemployed man from Teesside as they sailed into the Irish Sea to rendezvous with a cargo ship, the MV Matthew, and collect a consignment of cocaine. But the message was wrong. They needed more than luck – and nothing was straightforward.
The two men were part of an elaborate attempt to smuggle over 2.2 tonnes of cocaine into Europe. Instead, the operation collapsed, dealing a major blow to international drug cartels at the hands of Irish authorities.
Eight men were ultimately convicted and sentenced to a combined 129 years in prison, and the cocaine – worth hundreds of millions – was destroyed. Yet despite the success, law enforcement agencies across Europe concede they are still struggling to stem the rising tide of cocaine shipments across the Atlantic.
Europe’s Struggle to Intercept the Flow
The Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre (MAOC), which coordinates Europe’s response to the transatlantic drugs trade, revealed that last year alone it failed to intercept 100 vessels suspected of carrying narcotics. The reason was simple: there were not enough ships available.
“We have the intelligence on the vessel crossing the Atlantic, we know it is loaded, and still we cannot intercept because we lack the assets,” MAOC director Sjoerd Top explained. The centre monitors up to 600 ships daily, while cocaine production in South America has reached record levels.
The UK’s National Crime Agency estimates British users consumed 117 tonnes of cocaine in the past year. Cocaine-related deaths in the UK have surged ten-fold since 2011. Traditionally, shipments enter through major ports such as Rotterdam and Antwerp. But with tighter security in place there, smugglers are turning to riskier methods – including at-sea drop-offs where bulk shipments are transferred from a “mother ship” to smaller “daughter” boats.
“We’ve intercepted tonnes in recent months through this method – multiple seizures of one or two tonnes each,” said Charlie Eastaugh, director of UK Border Force maritime operations.
Ireland: Europe’s Vulnerable Back Door
Drug cartels are increasingly eyeing Ireland as a weak link – a country with nearly 2,000 miles of coastline, dotted with secluded inlets, and sharing the EU’s only open land border with the UK.
But Ireland’s resources are stretched. Defence spending is the lowest in the EU at just 0.2% of GDP. The naval service technically has eight ships, but shortages mean usually only two are at sea.
“We are responsible for 132,000 square miles of water – 16% of European waters – with two ships. It doesn’t make sense,” said retired naval commander Eugene Ryan.
Air cover is equally thin. Former officers told Panorama there were occasions when no helicopter was available to patrol the coastline. “The narcotic superhighway runs straight into Ireland. Our waters are like the Wild West – a free-for-all,” said Cathal Berry, a former army commandant.
The government insists it maintains “continuous presence and vigilance,” pointing to a €600m (£520m) defence boost over four years and initiatives to stabilise naval strength. But the MV Matthew case revealed just how stretched the state’s defences are.
The Cartels’ Gamble
Authorities believe the Kinahan organised crime group, one of Europe’s most notorious cartels, was behind the shipment. The syndicate purchased the MV Matthew for around £10m in August 2023.
A few weeks later, three men – Ukrainian national Vitaliy Lapa, Teessider Jamie Harbron, and a Scottish associate flown in from Dubai – were dispatched to Castletownbere in southwest Ireland to buy a trawler, the Castlemore, for €300,000 (£260,000). Police surveillance later identified the Scot as Glaswegian Stefan Boyd. He returned first class to Dubai after handling payments through a local construction firm.
Unknown to the smugglers, police had already fitted a tracker to the Castlemore.
As the MV Matthew sailed into the Irish Sea, storms battered the trawler, causing repeated engine failures. Intercepted messages revealed that orders were being relayed from Dubai, with one warning the cargo ship’s Iranian skipper, Soheil Jelveh, to steer clear of UK waters: “The Irish coastguard has VHF only. The British coastguard has boats too.”
At that time, Ireland had just one naval ship at sea – the WB Yeats – which was already shadowing the smugglers.
From Sandbanks to Standoff
The plot quickly unraveled. On September 24, the Castlemore ran aground on a sandbank. Its crew had to be rescued by helicopter – alerting the authorities. Jelveh, panicked, later feigned injury to be airlifted ashore, where police found $50,000 (£38,000) in his bag. He was arrested after trying to flee hospital.
Meanwhile, his Filipino deputy, Harold Estoesta, attempted to outrun the navy. Messages from a Dubai handler, calling himself “Captain Noah,” urged the crew to keep calm and push on: “My stress level is near heart attack. Be calm. Full speed go.”
But the navy fired warning shots – the first such use of force since the 1980s – ordering the ship to divert to Cork. The terrified crew pleaded, “We are afraid… please do not fire at us. My crew is panicking, crying.”
With no suitable military helicopters available, the Defence Forces hastily converted the country’s only airworthy ambulance helicopter, stripping out medical equipment and bolting on two machine guns. Within hours, Irish Army Rangers rappelled onto the MV Matthew’s deck and seized control.
The last message sent to “Captain Noah” in Dubai was a photograph of the helicopter hovering above the ship. Moments later, the cartel’s plan was over.
A Temporary Victory
Despite scarce resources, the operation marked a rare and decisive victory for Irish authorities. Since then, police have uncovered at least four further plots to route cocaine through Ireland.
But former commanders warn the battle is far from won. “If I were a narco now, I’d be rubbing my hands,” said Eugene Ryan. “If they send 20 tonnes and lose a few ships, they’ll still land 12 or 15 tonnes.”
Across Europe, cocaine trafficking is accelerating – and those on the frontlines say the continent must do far more if it hopes to hold the line against the cartels’ relentless advance.
