Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

THE SENTENCING of three men to long prison terms for drugs smuggling by the Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday tells a dramatic story in its own right about an audacious criminal operation that failed spectacularly after several human errors. It also gives a revealing glimpse into the huge transatlantic cocaine trade from Latin America now targeting Ireland as a transit point and destination. The case shows how this country has joined certain West African states, together with Spain and Portugal as parts of those smuggling routes. Despite the excellent Garda work in securing these convictions we simply do not know how many other similar operations may be succeeding undetected.

The sheer scale of the cocaine trade is shown in the estimates that this 1,550kg haul was worth at least €440 million and perhaps twice that, depending on the drug's concentration. Garda estimates that it might have been purchased from the Medellin cartel for about €40 million show the scale of superprofits involved as the cocaine crosses borders and eventually gets on to the street markets in the UK, Ireland and elsewhere in Europe. Their suspicion that the men jailed yesterday are not necessarily the main organisers - and further investigations may lead to more charges against others involved - bears out research showing that major international drug traffickers are now the principal players in this highly lucrative market.