Four men arrested in the early hours of Monday on suspicion of assisting organised crime in the importation of controlled drugs from “a mothership” off the coast of Kerry have had their period of detention extended.
The men are being held in Killarney and Tralee Garda stations and include a Serbian national, with an address in Manchester; a man with an address in Derry; and two men with addresses in Glasgow.
On Sunday acting on confidential information the Customs Services and the Gardaí became aware of four males acting suspiciously.
A rigid inflatable boat (rib) had been taken to the Glen Pier in Ballinskelligs in south Kerry and two high powered engines fitted to it.
A second rib had been parked at Portmagee.
On Sunday one of the ribs was taken 100 kms to Meenogahane pier in the north of the county and all four men were observed boarding the boat and heading out to sea shortly after midnight.
The rib was observed returning and the men boarded the a Land Rover Discovery. A number of items were recovered from the vehicle including night vision equipment, GPS equipment and seven mobile phones and a highly encrypted device.
Gardai suspect the men were involved in the importation of controlled drugs placed in the water by a vessel known as “a mother ship”, Chief Supt Seamus Boland told the court.
He said that the mothership has been identified but to date no controlled drugs have been found or seized.
The men were arrested at 5.20 am on January 13th on their way back from Meenogahane pier under Section 72 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 on suspicion of enhancing or facilitating the ability of a criminal organisation to commit a serious offence, the importation and possession for supply of controlled drugs.
The court sitting heard how the men had rented a cottage in Ballinskelligs on January 7th and how they had paid 12,000 euro in cash for the second rib.
Solicitors for the men - Padraig O’Connell, Pat Mann and Brendan Ahern put it to Chief Supt Boland that no drugs were found and their clients enjoyed the presumption of innocence. Judge David Waters granted the extension of up to 72 hours for the proper investigation of the offence saying he was satisfied the investigation was being conducted diligently.