Packets of suspected cocaine found on Donegal beaches
The packages containing suspected cocaine were found on beaches near Fanad and Dunfanaghy in County Donegal
At a glance
The first package was found on a beach near Fanad at around 08:30 local time on Wednesday
A second package was discovered about half an hour later near Dunfanaghy
They are thought to contain 60kg of cocaine worth €4m
Irish police want people to be on the lookout for "marine debris that attracts attention"
- Published
Packages thought to contain 60kg of cocaine worth €4m (£3.5m) have been found on two County Donegal beaches in the Republic of Ireland.
An Garda Síochána (Irish police) said a number of packages were found early on Wednesday morning.
The first was discovered at 08:30 local time at Ballyhiernan Beach in Fanad.
A member of the public discovered a second similar package at about 09:00 at Tramore Beach, Dunfanaghy.
There have been reports of a third package found, but Irish police said this has not been confirmed.
Specialist teams, including the Garda Air Support Unit and the Garda Water Unit, are carrying out searches of the Donegal coastline.
Garda officers examine a packet of suspected cocaine on a Donegal beach
A Garda spokeswoman said the packages found on Wednesday are undergoing forensic analysis.
Anyone who finds a similar package, or sees “other marine debris that attracts their attention” is asked to contact the police, the spokeswoman added.
A 'big concern'
Local independent councillor Michael McClafferty said the drugs find was "a big concern for the area".
“We don’t know if this was an isolated incident or part of an ongoing criminal operation – whether these drugs came off a boat, perhaps a sinking one, or were just washed up onto the shore," he told BBC News NI.
“There is nothing to suggest there is a major drugs problem in this area but the concern, when you hear about an incident like this, is that criminals involved in the drugs underworld are trying to either gain a foothold in an area like ours or use it as a gateway to other parts of the country, either north or south.”
A former head of EU anti-drugs-smuggling agency the MAOC-N said it was possible that the drug find was the result of a handover that went wrong.
Drugs 'may have been dumped'
Speaking on RTÉ radio on Thursday, Michael O'Sullivan said drugs are usually loaded on to large vessels in South America and offloaded on to smaller vessels in the Atlantic for transfer to Europe.
Another possibility is that drugs were simply dumped by those transporting them, Mr O'Sullivan, a former senior Garda officer, said.
He said that if smugglers transporting drugs in a small vessel see an Irish air corps craft or naval service ship in the area, "they will dump the drugs".
"It's difficult to say at this stage, but either way it's a very costly expense to lose that much pure cocaine while it's being shipped," he said.
He said the whole coastline of Europe was vulnerable to drug smuggling and urged anyone who finds drugs in Donegal to contact gardaí.