Gardaí investigating the discovery of over €100 million worth of cocaine in west Cork yesterday arrested a fourth man for questioning after he was discharged from hospital where he had been receiving treatment.
The man, who is in his 40s and claims to be a South African living in the UK, was arrested under anti-drug trafficking legislation shortly after he was discharged just before 4pm from Bantry General Hospital.
He had been receiving treatment in hospital for the past four days.
The man was plucked in a semi-conscious state from the sea at Dunlough Bay by Castletownbere Lifeboat after spending an estimated three hours in the water when the rigid inflatable boat in which two of the smuggling gang were travelling capsized.
He was brought to Bantry Garda station for questioning yesterday.
It is expected that gardaí will seek to hold him for the full seven days available to them under the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking Act) 1996 to question him about the €100 million cocaine haul.
Meanwhile officers, who had already obtained a 72-hour custody extension to allow them question a man arrested on Monday, last night successfully applied to have the detention period of two Englishmen arrested on Wednesday morning also extended by 72 hours.
One of the two, who were arrested at Gubbeen outside Schull around 8am on Wednesday, is second-generation Irish with family links to the greater Kilcrohane area on the Sheep's Head Peninsula near Bantry in west Cork.
Gardaí believe that both men were part of a six-man gang who came to Ireland to put in place the logistical support necessary for the shipment of the 1.525-tonne consignment of cocaine after they collected it from a mother ship that delivered it off the Co Cork coast.
Gardaí sealed off two rented holiday homes at Letter West and Fermanagh in Kilcrohane and carried out technical examinations of both dwellings while Garda telecommunications experts are continuing to examine satellite communications equipment seized from one of the houses.
It is understood that two Englishmen began renting the house at Fermanagh which is east of Kilcrohane village in April for three months and that all six were frequently seen around Kilcrohane village where they said they were involved in a diving expedition.