Irish national arrested after cocaine worth €110m seized on yacht off Portugal
An Irish national is among three people held after Portuguese police and military personnel intercepted a yacht with more than 1.5 tonnes of cocaine on board off the Azores.
Two Danish men were also arrested after 1,660kg of the class-A drug with a potential street value of about €110 million were discovered on the 11-metre vessel.
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All three were on Saturday in Sao Miguel Prison in the Azores archipelago capital Ponta Delgada after being remanded behind bars by a judge following their first court appearance on Friday.
Portuguese police also confirmed on Friday that their Spanish counterparts had held the suspected leader of the criminal gang in a 'parallel' operation thought to have taken place on the Costa del Sol.
A taser gun and €63,000 in cash were seized following the arrest. The man's nationality has not been officially revealed but he is believed to be Danish.
The operation that led to the high-seas cocaine bust was codenamed Operation Vikings.
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A spokesman for Portugal's Policia Judiciaria police force described the three men held off the Azores in an official statement as 'foreigners' but a well-placed source confirmed today they included an Irish national.
The Policia Judiciaria also said Irish authorities had assisted them.
In the lengthy statement, the Portuguese police force said: 'With the support of the Portuguese Navy, we launched an operation to combat international drug trafficking by sea.
'A sailing boat around 11 metres long was intercepted off the western group of the Azores archipelago as it crossed the Atlantic Ocean between South America and Europe with around 1,666kg of cocaine on board.
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'Operation Vikings is the result of a complex investigation that has taken place over the last two years, aimed at dismantling an international criminal organisation with transcontinental operations specialising in bringing large quantities of cocaine to the European continent and using our country as a platform to this end.
'Due to poor safety and seaworthiness conditions the three crew members of the sailboat, who have since been arrested by the PJ, were taken along with the narcotics to a ship belonging to the Portuguese Navy which deployed a wide range of resources involving more than 50 military personnel.
The Policia Judiciaria added in its statement: 'Given the complexity of the operation, the Portuguese Air Force, the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre-Narcotics (MAOC-N), the Ponta Delgada Maritime Police and the Ponta Delgada Port Authority all took part in the investigation.
'Likewise, given the nationality of the suspects and the geographical dispersion of their activities, the assistance provided by foreign counterparts in the context of international police co-operation, in particular the Spanish National Police, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Danish National Special Crimes Unit (NSK Danish Police) and the French and Irish authorities, was also relevant.
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"The three detainees on the intercepted and seized vessel, foreigners aged between 43 and 51, have appeared in court in Ponta Delgada Court for initial questioning and been remanded in custody.
'As part of a parallel investigation in Spain targeting the same criminal organization, the Spanish National Police through its elite organised crime-fighting Greco Costa del Sol unit and acting in conjunction with Portuguese police, arrested a man believed to be the leader of the organisation.
'Officers seized €63,000 in cash, a GPS device, a taser gun, numerous pieces of computer and communications equipment, some of which was encrypted, as well as an unspecified amount of foreign currency from his home.'
None of the four suspects held on the boat and during the mainland Spain raid have been named.
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In March last year 840kg of cocaine said at the time to have a potential street value of over €58 million washed up off a number of beaches in Denmark.
It later transpired the drug haul was destined for Ireland, with reports at the time referencing links to a suspected drug trafficking operation in west Cork following a string of gardai arrests.
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Three men, two from Spain and one with an address in Serbia who had been arrested in March last year, pleaded guilty at the non-jury Special Criminal Court in April to conspiring to bring drugs into Ireland.
They had been scheduled to appear at the three-judge court again earlier this week, although it was not immediately clear today if the hearing had gone ahead.
It is not known if the Portuguese police operation is linked in any way.
Although local reports in Portugal have put the estimated street value of the drugs at around €64 million, their value in Ireland is believed to be closer to the €110 million mark.
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The Sun
33 minutes ago
- The Sun
Desperate Bonnie Blue is broken & destroying industry… only she can save herself, says ‘world's richest' OnlyFans star
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A passionate Sophie continued: "I am all for someone expressing themselves on OnlyFans how they want, but it gets to a point where it's harming the image of the platform as a whole and the girls who are within it." In a statement to The Blast, Sophie also hit out at Bonnie for the way her stunts harm women in the industry. She told them: "It's no longer women empowerment. It's shock value, and she's making a joke out of all of us." Bonnie has claimed to earn £600,000 a month on OnlyFans in the past - meaning across a year she could make over £7.2million per year. She has hit headlines with a number of sick stunts across the past few years. One saw her ask college boys to sign up to an event to see who could give her the best orgasm - with a pledge to pay for the tuition of the "winner". 9 9 9 Bonnie was also slammed for "promoting rape culture" and labelled "vile" for announcing what she called " Bonnie Blue 's petting zoo". This stunt was seen as the final straw for OnlyFans as they axed Bonnie from using the platform shortly after it was revealed before the event ever took place. Despite taking aim at Bonnie's sick antics, Sophie was quick to say she doesn't want to be the reason why she was banned. She insisted she actually wants to "give her a hug" and believes the controversial creator deserves to have a "chance to redeem her herself". Sophie added: "She seems like a broken person. "I think deep down she realises that this path she's going down is wrong, and I hope she saves herself. "I want to give her a hug. I think she's being misguided to do things she simply is only doing for money." Bonnie has also been shunned by others in the adult entertainment industry. And fellow blonde bombshell Lilly Phillips has also blasted her in the past. 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The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
I worked at Broadmoor for 20yrs & hosted Ronnie Kray's wedding…one killer with eyes ‘black like death' still haunts me
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'One minute you read about it - the next minute you're standing opposite them.' First opened in 1863 as Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, to this day it remains the most well-known high security psychiatric hospital in England. Other notable patients include serial killer Robert Maudsley, nicknamed 'Hannibal the Cannibal', Charles Bronson, dubbed Britain's 'most violent prisoner', and Kenneth Erskine - a.k.a. the Stockwell Strangler. Paedophile entertainer Jimmy Savile was a regular visitor, and bosses even gave him his own set of keys - yet we now know he abused dozens of patients. But to Neil, crossing paths with evil was just another day on the job. A series of phone conversations with Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe made during his time in prison 'My family could never understand how I could work there and come home like nothing had happened,' he said. 'There was another one - I can't remember his name - who ate somebody. They used to call him Peckish. He would have eaten anybody. 'Others would have slit their throats with anything they could find.' Ripper's 'dinner parties' The Yorkshire Ripper brutally murdered at least 13 women between 1975 and 1980 and was sent to Broadmoor in 1985, after being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. But, as Neil recounts, his life in Broadmoor wasn't as stark as many might imagine - despite face the occasional attack from other inmates. Sutcliffe would often hold 'after hours' evening dinner specials on his ward, along with others in his crew. It made a welcome change from the usual food they were given, with treats like barbecued smoked chicken, steak ribs, and chips on offer - paid for out of their own pocket. 15 15 15 Even here, at the dinner table, he was able to strike fear into the heart of seasoned staff at Broadmoor. 'From the very first meal I did with my colleague, you would look across the room and see him sitting round the dinner table - and he's looking back at you,' recounted Neil. 'There's absolutely nothing behind his eyes. They were black like death, and not one bit of emotion. 'There are a lot of prisoners in there who have done bad things - but he stood out. 'The others at that table were more affable and appreciative." Bizarrely, despite his horrendous crimes, the serial killer had a legion of female fans who would regularly write him letters. And sometimes, they'd even come to Broadmoor to meet him in the flesh. 'He had visits, and used to get women truck drivers coming onto the ward,' recalled Neil. 'He just sat and talked. It was strange - why would an ordinary woman want to go out with a murderer?" Wedding feast Sutcliffe is far from the only long term resident of Broadmoor to have entertained romance while living behind bars. Ronnie Kray, the notorious East End gangster, was convicted along with his twin Reggie for the murders of George Cornell and Jack 'The Hat' McVitie in 1969, and sentenced to life with a minimum of 30 years. A decade later, Ronnie was diagnosed with schizophrenia and transferred to Broadmoor where he lived until his death in 1995 from a heart attack, aged 61. Being who he was, he had quite the reputation among both patients and staff - and never let standards slack, recalled Neil. 'We always used to liken it to the scene in the Italian Job, when Mr Bridger comes down the stairs,' Neil said. 'That was the aura he had. 'The others would slob about in tracksuit bottoms, but he was always dressed in pristine suits and really smart.' 15 15 But Ronnie's mind wasn't always as put together as his outfits. 'He would be lucid one day, and then black in the next. 'He had a very, very quick fuse, but it would be equally quick going.' Despite these outbursts, Ronnie ended up marrying twice while locked up. His first, in 1985, was to Elaine Mildener, though the couple divorced in 1989. The second was to Kate Howard, who was 23 years his junior. They wed the same year as his divorce from his first wife, tying the knot in a romantic ceremony in the hospital's chapel. But it was down to Neil to look after the celebrations that followed. 'He said, what can you give me? And I just said, well, it's your day - what do you want?,' said Neil as he recalled organising his wedding feat. 'He sent me a list - on it was quails' eggs, dressed ham and jellied eels. We also did a whole salmon dressed on a blue aspic base.' Broadmoor boyfriends He added: 'There were about 14 or 15 people there, and a lot of staff. His brothers came in from various establishments. 'They came under escort, would be escorted onto the chapel, and then the reception was up in one of the rooms. 'The wedding was paid upfront - he wasn't short of money.' 15 15 Broadmoor staff even discovered a business card in 1985 which revealed that the twins, from separate institutions, were operating a 'bodyguard and protection' business for Hollywood stars while locked up. Ronnie's second marriage also ended in divorce five years later, and he passed away in 1995. Being such a character and having lived in Broadmoor for so long, his death hit hard for a lot of the other patients. They were losing a friend - and in some cases, a boyfriend, remembered Neil. Ronnie Kray, who was bisexual, enjoyed same-sex relationships with others in Broadmoor even while married, though all visits were supervised by staff. 'There was only one that was sort of special, though,' said Neil. 'And I'm almost sure his bride knew as well.' Daring escape While Ronnie became accustomed to life on the inside, others had their mind focussed on escape. Broadmoor, famously, was surrounded by air-raid sirens that were installed to warn locals if someone had made it out Their frightening howl became a weekly staple for residents living in towns nearby, as the klaxons would be tested every Monday morning. But when the sirens sounded one day in 1991, it wasn't a routine test - a child rapist was on the loose. James Saunders was sentenced to life in 1985 after being convicted for the rape of two girls aged 11 and 15. But he was clever - and devised a complicated plan to ensure others were distracted while he made his way to the outside. 'The one that went over the wall wanted to organise a pizza making event in the central hall, on Saturday night,' said Neil. 15 15 'All the time this was happening, he was actually planning his escape - right down to the finest details. 'So, on the Saturday night when we'd put staff members in the hall to dish out the dough so they could have this competition, he was on his way getting ready to go over the wall. 'He'd arranged it purely for the fact that it would mean most people were in the central hall.' Saunders - who was given the nickname 'Wolfman' after living in the wild for three weeks after his escape - then managed to run across the courtyard and over two 20ft high walls to make his getaway. 'When the alarms go off at four o'clock in the morning, and then you realise it's not Monday morning, you just think - oh bugger,' said Neil. 'Everybody had to go up to Broadmoor to sign in and be told where you had to go. 'I was on shift from half past four until half past two the next morning.' Notorious inmates past and present BROADMOOR is has housed hundreds of dangerous criminals over the years. Here are some of the other notorious inmates who've spent time inside its walls. Ian Ball tried to kidnap Princess Anne in 1974 while her car was on route to Buckingham Palace. He wanted to hold her for ransom and planned to donate the £3million to the NHS, apparently, he felt mental health services were not good enough. Robert Napper was convicted of murdering young mum Rachel Nickel on Wimbledon Common in July 1992 in front of her young son Alex. He was also previously convicted of the double murder of Samantha Bisset and her daughter Jazmine in 1993. Napper is thought to be the Green Chain Rapist who carried out at least 70 attacks over a four year period. Charles Bronson, also known as Charles Salvador, is often dubbed as Britain's "most violent prisoner". Infamously, while at Broadmoor he staged a three day protest on the roof, causing £250,000 worth of damage. Neo-nazi David Copeland, known as the "London nail bomber", killed three and injured 79 in a series of attacks with homemade nail bombs in the capital across three successive weekends in April 1999. On his diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, he was committed to Broadmoor, although his plea of manslaughter by diminished responsibility was not accepted by the jury. Daniel Gonzalez, then 25, murdered four people and injured two across two days in London and Sussex in September 2004. While at Broadmoor awaiting trial, he tried to bite himself to death and was so violent that he was accompanied by officers in riot gear everywhere. He was jailed for life in 2006 and then killed himself in Broadmoor Hospital the year after. Peter Bryan from London killed three people while on release from various mental hospitals. Once detained at Broadmoor, Bryan killed fellow patient Richard Loudwell, 59, and planned to eat him. Bryan is still at Broadmoor and is unlikely to ever be released. Hundreds of cops descended on the area, with some even coming from as far as Aylesbury. But as it turned out, Saunders had in fact made it all the way to Dorset. He was eventually spotted by a policeman walking along a road, with a fishing rod and blanket in hand. Held in Broadmoor ever since, in 2010 a nurse was alleged to have had sexual relations with him in the laundry room.
BreakingNews.ie
2 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
How anti-immigrant activists tried to 'weaponise' Carlow incident with misinformation
Misinformation around a recent shooting incident at a Carlow shopping centre was "weaponised" by anti-immigrant activists and facilitated by social media algorithms, according to a researcher who monitors far-right activity in Ireland. On Sunday, June 1st, a 22-year-old man discharged a firearm inside a supermarket at the Fairgreen Shopping Centre, and later died of a self-inflicted gunshot. Advertisement He was the sole fatality in the incident, and the only other injury was a minor leg injury suffered by a girl who fled the scene in the ensuing panic. Within an hour, misinformation and conspiracy theories were rampant on social media. Far-right activists made a number of claims, including that seven people had been killed in the incident and that it was a terror attack. An hour and a half after the incident, Derek Blighe, the founder of the nationalist and immigration-focused 'Ireland First' party, posted on X: "Unconfirmed Reports of a mass shooting in Carlow, apparently 7 people including a child have been shot." He also shared a Facebook comment suggesting a nine-year-old had been shot. Advertisement The Hope and Courage Collective (H&CC) is an organisation that is focused on helping communities to counter "hate and division", as well as far-right mobilisation. In an interview with H&CC research and communications lead Mark Malone said: "Claims from the likes of Derek Blighe, from Gavin Lowbridge (who runs the OffGrid Ireland account on Twitter spaces), they were framing the incident as a terrorist shooting related to their own anti-immigrant politics. This was all within a time period that allowed for no verification, and susbsequently what transpired was most of it was utter nonsense." Mr Malone also mentioned anti-immigrant activist Philp Dwyer, who drove to the scene in Carlow to film. "It was telling that Philip Dwyer was travelling back from an anti-migrant demonstration in Clonmel, heard there was something happening and landed up in Carlow, he describes himself as a 'citizen journalist'. Advertisement "He was quick on the scene. What he was pitching was 'I don't see any Irish people here, I don't see any white people here', literally after he interviewed a white Irish woman. "He's repeating these kinds of false narratives, openly lieng to the auidence, anyone can see the contradictions in what he's saying. I guess that's part and parcel of not being accountable to anyone, you can lie, contradict yourself, without consequences. "It's not like the base or his followers are interested in accuracy or truthfulness, it's more about virality and emotional content. The repetition of frames and narratives they want to push, regardless and completely independent of reality." He added: "Also telling was his approach to the Fire Service and An Garda Síochána at the scene. He started filming them and asked for information about the injuries, number of fatalities. The people on the ground probably didn't know what the details were at the time, and were reluctant to make any specific statements to a guy who evidently wasn't a journalist, was just some guy standing with a phone demanding information. When they made it clear they could not provide the information, Dwyer quickly moved to just verbally abusing them." Advertisement Mr Malone also pointed out that anti-migrant activists are often spreading misinformation with the aim of creating fear and division so that they can monetise it. They would see something like what happened in Carlow as an opportunity to insert themselves in public conversation and to push their own narratives. "Content that creates fear or posits a 'this is what happened' in an emergency situation, spreads fast. "If you have a blue tick and your account is monetised, you can get money for views on your content. "Derek Blighe and Philip Dwyer rarely post anything without asking their followers for money. Advertisement "Content that rallies emotions like fear, anger and disgust often leads to people sharing something without critically thinking or examining it. "This is why we often see false rumours about sexual violence or child abductions as a way of priming people to be afraid of Ipas centres. "They would see something like what happened in Carlow as an opportunity to insert themselves in public conversation and to push their own narratives. "There's no clarification or removing posts afterwards, they move quickly from spreading false information, claims that the shooter was a migrant or that it was an Islamic attack, when it became clear that this was an Irish person involved, they just stopped." An Garda Síochána posted regular updates about the incident, including one which clarified the gunman was a white Irishman. 'Frenzied misinformation' Mr Malone said this route made sense given the "frenzied misinformation" spreading online, however, he said it is unlikely to make any impact with those who follow the activists. "There was a small pause before they returned with 'why are they saying it's a white man?' "In fact it is actually their own cycle of disinformation and propaganda which forced An Garda Síochána to make that statement. "The number of statements from gardaí that day was rare, but it was needed to limit the spread of this frenzied misinformation online. "There are pros and cons, it's understandable why gardaí approached it that way given the rapid response of reactionary voices trying to frame it in a particular way. However, regardless of what is put out the far-right will still find ways to weaponise, argue, twist, misrepresent. "Those that are interested in pushing fear and division will continue to do so, the problem is they're allowed to lie, spread misinformation, be racist, incite violence and fear, without pushback. They're allowed to amass large followings and raise income from social media platforms even when they're clearly breaking the terms and conditions of the platforms themselves." Mr Malone recently published research into the violence in Ballymena , and identified a Facebook group that was actively encouraging people to attack individuals' homes. He pointed to this as an example of how social companies need to do more to target misinformation that poses real life danger to people. "We can see that in the context of Ballymena where we reported a Facebook page being used to organise pogroms on a street by street basis, Meta said it did not break their terms and conditions. "A lack of serious action by the platforms is a huge issue. While individuals need to be held accountable for what they're doing, these companies have billions at their disposal and are taking no action when their platform is contributing to people being burnt out of their houses. "Look at Facebook in Myanmar, a UN investigation found that Facebook was culpable in the face of a genocide in 2016, almost 10 years later people are being burnt out of their homes in Northern Ireland and it's being openly orchestrated on the platform." While there was no followup violence caused by the misinformation around the Carlow incident, social media played a big role in the Dublin riots in November 2023. Mr Malone said incidents like this are inevitable without serious action from the likes of Meta and X. Recommender systems The H&CC has long advocated for the removal of recommender systems from social media. These algorithms direct people to emotive content, much of which promotes violence and racism. "I think there's the inevitability rather than possibility that something bad will happen and that social media platforms will be playing a significant role in that, we're already seeing it. "That's why we would argue there neeeds to be serious political action around the platforms both in terms of giving clear effect to agreements under the Digital Services Act and the recommender systems. "Those mistruths that are being created as viral content are not just shown to the followers of the people posting it, the algorithms designed by the companies are there to recognise highly engaging emotional content and to spread it as far and wide as possible. "That's where anti-immigrant influencers are able to utilise the way the platforms work to spread their content, which has no factual basis to it. "There is probably a trade off being made given the amount of taxes the companies bring in, but you cannot relegate safety within our communities to the demands of platforms." He said "greater political will" is needed to address the negative impact of social media companies and their recommender systems. "Another striking thing is the number of times and the speed at which platforms can get access to the Government in terms of demanding meetings and how often those meetings are held behind closed doors, with ministers or Dáil committees. "These platforms are supposedly being held accountable, but these meetings are normally held outside of public scrutiny. That needs to end." Tánaiste Simon Harris and Taoiseach Micheál Martin have spoken out against the prominent use of tricolours at anti-immigrant and far-right demonstrations, which have been become more widespread in Dublin, Cork and towns across the country in recent years. Mr Malone said this attempt to link far-right ideas with Irish history is imported from similar movements in Europe, the UK and the US. People wave tricolours at an anti-immigrant protest in Dublin city centre "Much of what we hear coming from the mouths of the anti-immigrant movement in Ireland are reactionary British ideas with an Irish accent. "I'm not saying there has not been anti-immigrant sentiment in Ireland before, but it's very clear that the modus operandi, the phrases, the language and discourse, has a much greater relationship with English fascism and British nationalism than it does with any historical Irish nationalism or republicanism that has existed. "This handing out of flags is well funded and centrally organised, trying to create a specific asthetic, this myth that these movements that have existed since around 2016, and coalesced around Covid, that they have some sort of lineage going back to 1916, they cleary don't. "In our research of their communications since 2016, they are primarily with British nationalists and English fascists. It's clear to us why the likes of Tommy Robinson and others are retweeting this stuff. They share the same world view, the flag is just a prop to share this false link to 1916. "In the North, the anti-immigrant activisits are mobilising around the term 'Love Ulster', here it's 'Love Ireland'. The importation of islamaphobia. "The raison d'etre of these movements is lifted from international spheres. They are even looking to forge alliances with fringe loyalists. "What we're seeing is some of the key actors in anti-immigrant mobilising have very extreme politics; white supremacy, neo nazi, islamophobia. "There is a distinction between people who are maybe fearful of difference, that's not an abnormal experience many people have that, but when we see people explicitly pushing white supremacist politics. Not just going to marches but live-streaming, actively organising people in local communities to stoke fear. "Propogating this myth that there is this link to historical Irish republicanism, part of what we want to do in our work is to smash that myth." 'A small minority with a large megaphone' Mr Malone said the far-right in Ireland is "still a small minority with a large megaphone provided by social media". He pointed to the "complete rejection" of anti-immigrant candidates in the recent general election, but warned that moving political discourse further to the right could still occuer. He said this is something politicians should be aware of, and made particular reference to human rights concerns over recent deportation flights from the State. Ireland Facebook being used to coordinate racist attacks i... Read More "We've already seen the Minister for Justice doing this macabre tweeting about deportation. The National Party won't be complaining about that. "We're seeing stories of people being deported after turning up for their regular calls to the Garda station which they're meant to do as part of their terms and conditions, committing no crimes and following up on what they're being asked to do, and yet they're being lifted and put on deportation flights. "Potentially the desire to shape numbers is affecting how people are being arrested and then deported, that is a concern. "Even though the organised far-right is very small, the impact it can have on the mainstream parties can be significant. It's the role of all of us to remind them, look at Europe where centre right parties take the clothes of the far-right... they get a hiding at the ballots."
