Massive drugs bust off Wexford coast: How it all unfolded

Pat Kenny is joined by Padraig Byrne (Journalist with the Independent.ie and the Wexford People) to discuss the massive drugs haul from off the Wexford coast. Two men have been arrested following a massive drugs bust off the coast of Wexford. The discovery was made after a boat ran aground and got stuck near Rosslare on Sunday night. It is believed tens of millions of euro worth of cocaine could be involved. Journalist with the Independent.ie and the Wexford People, Padraig Byrne, told The Pat Kenny Show how this all unfolded. "My sources are indicating that both men are not Irish, that they're foreign national men," he said. "It appeared that they had little expertise in the area of sailing; it was a bit of a struggle out there. "Essentially what happened was on Sunday evening at around 11.30 the trawler they were on ran aground on a sandbank just off Blackwater. "Initially it just appeared like a simple case of a trawler that had run aground in heavy weather." 'Naval Vessel tracking this trawler' Rosslare Harbour RNLI and Coastguard Rescue 117 Helicopter were sent out to the scene. "I believe as they got closer to the incident, they had some correspondence with an Irish Naval Vessel which was patrolling the area which had supposedly been tracking this trawler," Mr Byrne said. "They were told at that stage to avoid boarding the vessel and to avoid taking anybody off until they arrived at the scene and the Air Corps helicopter arrived at the scene." Mr Byrne said two men were then winched to the naval vessel. "Once the Navy vessel arrived on scene the decision was taken eventually to winch the two men from the deck of the trawler on to the deck of naval vessel," he said. "They were placed into the care of naval officers, and also I believe Gardaí from the National Drugs Unit as well. "I would imagine that maybe the heavy weather and the fact that the trawler ran aground maybe scuppered the operation somewhat. "If they were tracking these lads maybe there was more they were hoping to find out." Mr Byrne said the trawler may have come from Castletownbere. "Gardaí are remaining very tight-lipped on the whole operation," he said. "The only comment that they're making at the moment is it's a live operation and they won't comment any further while it's ongoing," he added. #ireland #drugbust #newstalk