L’abitudine all’Irlanda della cocaina arriva a “matrimoni, funerali, ogni occasione” – FT

A ship loaded with cocaine swerves from a pursuing Irish naval vessel. Warning shots are fired. Finally, troops descend on deck from a helicopter in gale force winds.

The operation in 2023 was Ireland’s biggest and most spectacular drug bust. The nation is now one of the world’s most avid cocaine users, and its rugged coastline draws smugglers seeking access to the EU.

“In the last three years, we’ve had record cocaine seizures,” said Ruth Kennedy, a commissioner of the Irish revenue service with responsibility for customs.

With cocaine production in Latin America at a record high, the drug has become more widespread in a country that spawned one of Europe’s most notorious drug cartels, the Kinahan gang, whose boss, Daniel Kinahan is holed up in Dubai. Addiction rates have grown, with more people seeking treatment, according to Ireland’s state Health Research Board.

Joe Treacy, a specialist in addiction in County Galway on Ireland’s west coast, says the problem has never been worse in his three decades-long career.

“I’m seeing prolific use. It’s now second nature, almost part and parcel of social life,” he added. “Weddings, funerals, any occasion, it seems to be a prerequisite that cocaine is available. It’s all ages, from 16 to 90.”

The high seas interdiction of the MV Matthew culminated in the seizure of 2.2 tonnes of cocaine with a street value of €157mn.

Since the Matthew, more than 150 seizures totalling almost 1.5 tonnes had been made by early July, including a 440kg haul on July 1. “How many more do we not intercept?” asked Treacy.

Ireland ranks fourth globally for cocaine use behind Australia, Spain and the Netherlands, according to a 2023 UN report, on a par with the US and Austria, and ahead of the UK.

But the Irish data in that study is from 2019 — and evidence suggests its use has kept climbing since then.

The amount of cocaine seized so far this year is 10 times higher than in the whole of 2019. In the past seven years, the number of people seeking treatment for cocaine has risen 250 per cent, according to the HRB.

The Rutland Centre, one of Ireland’s main addiction facilities, reported a 35 per cent rise in cocaine use in 2024 — one of the sharpest single-year increases it has recorded for any drug.

Dublin is among Europe’s top cocaine-consuming cities, an analysis of wastewater by the European Union Drugs Agency found last year.

Meanwhile, Ireland’s consumption of alcohol has dropped 31 per cent over the past quarter-century. Almost a third of its people do not drink at all, according to the HRB.

Ireland itself, with 5.4mn people, is a very small market — but it offers a gateway into the UK and the EU. A further appeal for criminals may be that its navy has only eight ships, of which three can be put to sea at any one time. Just two customs ships are available to secure its almost 3,200-km coastline.
Column chart of Ireland cocaine seizures, mn euros showing Ireland seized a record €220mn of cocaine in 2023

Its remote beaches attract cartels seeking new routes for their surging cocaine supplies. Coca crops in Colombia drove global production to a record 3,708 tons in 2023, according to the UN, up 34 per cent from 2022.

“If you do land something in Ireland, then you’re into the European Union,” said Séamus Boland, head of the National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, part of Ireland’s police force, An Garda Síochána.

“One of the biggest problems at the moment in Europe is at-sea drop-offs,” he added.

It was the method the MV Matthew had intended to use in 2023.

The Panamanian-registered vessel, which set sail from the Caribbean island of Curaçao off the coast of Venezuela, was the “mother ship”. It had planned to transfer its cargo to a fishing trawler bought in Ireland and paid for by a crime group.

The plans unravelled when the “daughter” ship due to pick up the cocaine at sea ran aground, leaving an increasingly panicked crew on the Matthew to liaise by voice message with “Captain Noah” — the gangster in Dubai overseeing the operation.

An Irish patrol ship, the LÉ WB Yeats, gave chase. “I have fired a warning shot. Do you understand?” radioed the naval commander, according to a video released by Irish police in early July.

“Irish warship, please don’t fire at us,” came the response. But it was too late and elite Rangers, Ireland’s special operations force, abseiled on to the ship as it was buffeted by a gale.

Officials have not indicated whom they suspect of being behind the cargo, but Angela Willis, assistant Garda commissioner for organised and serious crime, said it was “reasonable to assume the Kinahans” were involved.

Ireland has cracked down hard on organised crime and scored a coup against the Kinahans in May when Daniel Kinahan’s “closest confidant” was extradited to Dublin from the UAE — a move seen as preparing the way for his boss to make the same journey.

In early July, the eight sailors involved in the MV Matthew operation were jailed for a total of 129 years.

After the sentencing, detective superintendent Joe O’Reilly from the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, said the message was clear: “Ireland is not a soft target.”

Treacy said cocaine was used by all types of people, from farmers to business people and he also saw a correlation with a sometimes “reckless” attitude to drinking. Despite the fall in overall consumption, binge drinking — defined as six drinks or more in a single session — is on the rise.

But the country’s struggle with drugs is far from over. “We’re at full employment, we have lots of money,” said Willis. “And people aren’t making the link between a line of cocaine and the murder and misery of organised crime groups.”

https://www.ft.com/content/036554b5-6f26-43fe-87f4-50b04967f6f7

Who’s doing cocaine in this economy?!

Cost of living crises me hole 😅😅😅

People who use cocaine are scum. They can tell themselves otherwise, but they’re junkies that feed criminals.

Belgium is 100% all the folk at the European commission 

Where is France in that list? Is their consumption so low that they weren’t even included?

Can you blame them? The gov. are monkeys with sh1t for brains, most people can’t drive for sh1t, the only job the Gardaí actually do is wave speed cams about to fuck with the people that CAN drive, and most crime gets people a slap on the wrist, unless you’re dodging tax or not paying the ESB, and then you get two to ten.

You can’t crack the skulls of the ill-raised mongrels that roam the streets like it’s Escape from LA. The landlords are scum, the house prices are as mental as the rent.

I won’t touch the sh1t, but I refuse to judge anyone who’s trying to deal with this dump.