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THIRD COCAINE FIND BRINGS TOTAL TO IEP102M

Customs officials last night would not rule out the possibility of further
cocaine finds on board a boat in Kinsale Harbour, Co Cork, which has
already yielded over IEP100 million worth of the drug - Ireland's biggest
cocaine seizure.

Members of the Customs national drugs team yesterday discovered a further
20kg of cocaine on board the Gemeos to add to the 140kg they found on
Saturday and the 160kg they uncovered on board on Friday.

Analysis of the drug in the forensic laboratory at the Garda Technical
Bureau has shown it to have a purity of around 80 per cent - making it the
highest-quality cocaine seized in the State by Customs or gardai.

"It's the purest we've ever come across and we estimate it has a street
value of over IEP100 million," said one source, adding that given such a
high purity the drug was most likely to have originated in Colombia before
shipment via the Caribbean.

At approximately IEP102 million, the Kinsale seizure is worth over twice
the value of the previous biggest cocaine haul, when gardai found IEP47
million worth on the Sea Mist in September 1996.

Although gardai found 599kg of cocaine on the converted trawler when it
suffered engine trouble and put into Cork Harbour, it was not as pure as
that seized in Kinsale. One man was later convicted and jailed for 17 years.

Yesterday, Mr Brendan Mulcahy, of the Customs National Drugs Team confirmed
the search of the Gemeos will continue today. "There's at least another
day's painstaking search involved, so we're ruling nothing out."

The latest seizures on board the Gemeos were made under the floor of the
saloon, where customs officers found 12kg, while they also found a further
8kg behind a forward bulkhead to add to the 140kg they found on board on
Saturday.

Saturday's finds were stashed behind specially fitted false water and
diesel tanks and behind a bulkhead and showed the same degree of
sophistication as two caches of 80kg found under bunks on the 50-foot
catamaran on Friday.

According to Mr Mulcahy, the false tanks were expertly fitted to enhance
the concealment, while the drugs - which were packed in 1kg bags - were
well wrapped in plastic to hinder detection by sniffer dogs.

"The construction of these tanks was very sophisticated, while they also
went to great lengths to prevent the emission of any odours that would
allow detection by sniffer dogs, so we have had to do a painstaking
search," said Mr Mulcahy.

Customs national drugs team officers and Cork drug squad detectives backed
up by local gardai removed the boat from the water on Saturday to continue
their search of the vessel as stormy weather hit Kinsale.

Meanwhile, Judge Brendan Wallace granted Garda Chief Supt Adrian Culligan a
72-hour extension order at a special sitting of Bandon District Court to
allow the continued detention of two men arrested on Friday in connection
with the drugs find.

The two - a 51-year-old Dublin man resident in the Canaries and an
Englishman in his mid-30s who lives in the Caribbean - are being held and
questioned under the Criminal Justice Drugs Trafficking Act at Bandon Garda
station.

It is understood gardai have notified American police about an American who
jumped ship before Customs officials pounced. The man left the boat on
Thursday and is thought to have caught a flight from Dublin back to America.

Gardai believe the cocaine was intended for the British and European
markets but the boat suffered engine trouble. The Gemeos made for Kinsale
but failed to notify harbour authorities of its arrival on Tuesday and
suspicions were aroused.

Gardai don't believe there is any link between the arrival of the boat in
Kinsale and a suspected major international drugs trafficker who lived in
the west Cork seaside town until late last year.

Checked-by: Pat Dolan