The search by Naval Service divers for cocaine bales lost at sea during last week's attempted smuggling operation in Co Cork has ended following advice from Gardai and the Customs Service.
The divers searched underwater caves in Dunlough Bay and a location around a life buoy for more drugs over the weekend. They found wreckage belonging to one of the sunken rigid inflatable boats (ribs) used to try to land the drugs.
Sixty-one bales were found with one still missing, according to reports. The full haul was worth about €108.5 million
However, after diving this morning no further bales of cocaine were recovered and the diving team has now returned to base.
Earlier today, gardaí investigating attempted smuggling operation were granted more time to question two suspects.
The two English men in their 40s were arrested on Wednesday and had their period of detention further extended at a special court sitting last night.
They can now be held for a further 47 hours, bringing their total detention to seven days. Gardaí can hold suspects for this period of time under the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking Act) 1996 before releasing or charging them.
A man (22) was arrested on Monday when he swam to shore after a dinghy he and another man were in capsized. Rescuers plucked another man to safety but discovered bales of cocaine floating in the water He was arrested on Thursday after being discharged from hospital.
Gardaí believe there were probably eight men involved in the smuggling operation on land, and that they had been staying in two rented houses and other accommodation in west Cork for up to three weeks.
Detectives say some of the missing men may have fled the Republic and be back in Britain, where the cocaine was to have been taken.
Sources said they believed at least one of the group travelled across the Atlantic on board the large vessel that delivered the drugs. They believe this man helped to unload the shipment into the water and that he reached the shore.
Gardaí are hoping that forensic testing of Lucky Day, a US-registered catamaran impounded in La Coruna in Spain last week, will yield DNA or fingerprint evidence that will link one of the men in custody in Cork with the vessel.
The Lucky Dayremained impounded in La Coruna last night. The two crew members, a 40-year-old and a 50-year-old with Lithuanian identity papers, are being held by Spanish police.
The Lucky Dayis known to have been in Trinidad in April, but its movements since then have not yet been confirmed.