Naval Service urged to send vessels for drug patrols in Africa
:: Ireland has a ‘vested interest in joining anti-trafficking operation’
DEFENCE Minister Simon Coveney is considering a request to send Naval Service vessels to help drug patrols off the West African coast, which has become the main supply route for cocaine trafficking into Europe and Ireland.
As demand for the drug continues to rise across the EU, the estimated value of the market jumped by almost 50pc to €13bn in 2020, according to a former garda who leads Europe’s primary anti-drugs smuggling agency, the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre (Maoc) based in Lisbon.
In just over three years, Maoc-led operations under the command of former assistant commissioner Michael O’Sullivan have resulted in European navies seizing over €6bn worth of cocaine and cannabis which includes the interception of €2.1bn in 2020.
The EU-funded agency is the biggest threat to international drug trafficking syndicates as it co-ordinates the naval, air force and law enforcement resources of seven coastal European states – Ireland, the UK, Holland, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy – in combating narcotics trafficking from South America into Europe.
Mr O’Sullivan was appointed chief executive of the task force in 2017 after his retirement from An Garda Síochána where he was responsible for drug investigations.
Such has been the success of the intelligence-led operations that the smugglers have been forced to use a more circuitous route to avoid detection by using the busy transatlantic shipping lanes between the Caribbean and West Africa. Mr O’Sullivan describes this route – dubbed ‘Highway 10’ due to its 10 degree line of latitude – as Europe’s soft underbelly.
Once the multi-tonne shipments make dry land, they are then divided amongst the trans-national crime gangs, like the Kinahan cartel, who pool their money to buy in bulk directly from the South American producers.
The cocaine sold on Irish streets is smuggled from Africa via mainland Europe where it continues to cause untold misery and has been at the root of the country’s violent gang culture for two decades.
In an article jointly authored for the journal Defence Review 2020 with Commander Con Power, the Naval Service fleet operations officer, Mr O’Sullivan said Ireland has a “vested interest” in sending ships to West Africa.
The former drug squad detective told the Irish Independent: “The production of cocaine in South America is now running at record levels and the demand in Europe, including Ireland, is huge and growing all the time.
“We estimate that the drug market has jumped from around €9bn in 2019 to €13bn in 2020, which is doing enormous damage to societies across the EU, including Ireland where it fuels the cycle of gangland violence and a growth in levels of addiction,” he said.
“Our mission is to disrupt the supply line upstream by seizing the cocaine before it reaches land which is the most effective approach. Because once it makes landfall, it is sub-divided
The drug market jumped by almost 50pc to €13bn
and moved on so fast that the police can only play catch-up. Getting to it at sea avoids that because you have all the eggs in one basket.
“All the indications are that the success of the Maoc model of co-ordinating the police, military and customs services of the seven member states – Ireland, the UK, Holland, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy – in conjunction with the American DEA has caused the drug traffickers to move further south to West Africa which is Europe’s soft underbelly. Because of the damage that it causes society, Ireland has a vested interest in deploying naval ships to take part in anti-drug trafficking operations off West Africa, which is why we have asked the Irish authorities to consider deploying assets to Cape Verde as part of a co-ordinated European response,” he added.
The task force chief described how South American cartels have been resorting to more sophisticated methods to get their product into Europe by using purpose-built submersible vessels – dubbed “narco-subs” – to deliver multi-tonne loads of cocaine across the Atlantic.
In November 2019, the Spanish navy intercepted a narco-sub carrying three tonnes of drugs off the coast of Galicia, while similar vessels have also been found in South America.
It is understood that Mr Coveney has held discussions with Defence chiefs to assess the Irish Naval Service’s capacity to deploy a ship to the region.