THE 30 kilos of cocaine found at Moneypoint, Co Clare, yesterday suggests that the cocaine business in the Republic could be much bigger than previously thought.
The cocaine - worth between £3 million and £6 million at street level - is the largest consignment of cocaine found in the State.
About 40 packages of the white powder were found on board the Front Guider by a sniffer dog named Ben, who boarded the vessel with Customs Service and Garda officers early yesterday morning.
The find compares with a total of 21.8 kilogrammes seized by the Garda in 1995 - most of which was accounted for by a 20-kilo bale of cocaine washed onto a Co Clare beach. In 1994 the Garda uncovered only 45.6 grams of cocaine.
Customs figures show that the service had found just over one kilo of the drug so far this year, with less than a kilo found in each of the previous three years.
There was no firm indication last night the cocaine found at Moneypoint was bound for the Irish market.
However major Irish drug traffickers have previously shown interest in importing the drug and in promoting the use of "crack Cocaine" a highly addictive mixture of cocaine, baking soda and water which is heated and then smoked.
While it caused major crime and social problems in inner-city areas in the US from the 1980s its use in Europe has been limited.
Crack was first found in the Republic in 1994. Over the past year there has been in increase in the number of samples of the drug sent by Dublin gardai to the State Forensic Science Laboratory, with a particular rise in recent months. However use of crack has appeared to be on a small scale, compared to other drugs such as heroin and cannabis.
Ships from Colombia and some other South American countries are routinely searched by the Customs.
But the trailing of the Front Guider by the Naval Service, followed by a speedy co-ordinated search of the vessel, indicates the authorities acted on specific information. Sources suggested a 50-kilo find was expected.
Last night the Moneypoint power station, with the ship at its dock, remained sealed off by gardai. The crew were on board and had started unloading the vessel's 140,000-tonne cargo of coal.