Irish man held in Canaries over 500kg drugs haul

An Irish man has been arrested by police after the seizure of more than 500kg of cocaine on a yacht bound for the Canary Islands.

He was detained in Gran Canaria on suspicion of belonging to a drugs-trafficking gang after Spanish police and customs officials intercepted the yacht in international waters between Cape Verde and the holiday islands.

Last night he remained in custody along with an American arrested on the yacht, an Australian woman arrested in Tenerife and two Spaniards held in Gran Canaria.

He was named locally last night only by his first name and the initial of his surname, Kenneth C. His age and birthplace in Ireland are not known.

It is understood he has already appeared in a closed court hearing and been remanded in custody.

Detectives say they seized three Derringer handguns, a semi-automatic pistol and an assault rifle, gold bars worth €135,000 and satellite telecommunications equipment during raids in the islands linked to the top-level operation.

They also confiscated three boats as well as several luxury cars.

Police claimed last night the gang to which the five detainees are suspected of belonging used Cape Verde off Angola as a staging post for large cocaine shipments, before sending it on to the Canary Islands in smaller amounts.

Yacht seized
The yacht on which the cocaine was seized was intercepted on July 17th by Spanish customs officers and police from a special unit set up to tackle organised crime.

A spokesman for the National Police in Madrid said yesterday: “The organisation was made up of people of different nationalities specialising in the smuggling of cocaine by sea.

“The network transported large amounts of drugs from South America to Cape Verde where it was stored.

“Subsequently, after adopting various types of security measures, the drugs were sent in smaller amounts to their final destination in the Canary Islands where they were distributed.”