Operation Seabight, or Sea Bight, is the codename used to describe the tracking and eventual seizure of up to €750 million of

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

off the Irish coast in November 2008, originally thought to have been the largest such haul in the history of Ireland and one of the largest in Europe in 2008. The figures were later revised to show that this was in fact the second largest haul in Irish history. The seizure took place off the south-west coast and eclipsed the discovery of €440 million of cocaine near

Mizen Head Mizen Head () is traditionally regarded as the most southerly point of mainland Ireland although Brow Head is the actual southernmost point. It is at the end of the Mizen Peninsula in the district of Carbery in County Cork. Geography Mizen ...

in July 2007. A

yacht A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...

containing more than seventy bales of the substance was seized by a team of European anti-drugs agencies led by Irish authorities. Three men were also apprehended and later each was sentenced to ten years in jail. The seizure came just one day after the fourth man involved in Ireland's previous record haul in 2007 was sentenced to ten years imprisonment. of cocaine valued at €440 million washed up on the Cork coast near

following an attempted trafficking scam that failed when one of the men filled their petrol-powered motor engine with diesel. The inflatable launch overturned and dumped sixty-two bales of cocaine into the sea. Three of the men involved in the operation were sentenced earlier in 2008 for a total of eighty-five years.

Etymology

Operation Seabight received its name from the

Porcupine Seabight The Porcupine Seabight or Porcupine Basin is a deep-water oceanic basin located on the continental margin in the northeastern portion of the Atlantic Ocean. It can be found in the southwestern offshore portion of Ireland and is part of a series o ...

Porcupine Bank Porcupine Bank is a raised area on the Irish shelf, approximately west of Ireland. It is 200 m below sea level at its highest.Shannon, P, Haughton, P, Corcoran D, (2001) The Petroleum Exploration of Ireland's Offshore Basins, Geological Society ...

near international fishing grounds where the seizure took place.

Background

The seizure was masterminded by the

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

-based anti-trafficking body, Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre – Narcotics (MAOC-N), which is staffed by law enforcement personnel from Ireland, United Kingdom,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, Spain, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, France and Italy. The centre targets aeroplanes and sea vessels, such as private ships, cruisers and yachts, mainly from South America, Latin America and West Africa. The operation has previously identified smuggling routes which use West Africa as a staging post for illegal substances before shipping them to Europe. A yacht containing seventy bales of the substance was seized by a team of European anti-drugs agencies led by the Irish. The yacht, named ''Dances with Waves'', had set sail from

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

more than a month earlier. MAOC-N tracked it across the Atlantic Ocean before the

Irish Naval Service The Naval Service () is the maritime component of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Defence Forces of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and is one of the three branches of the Irish Defence Forces. Its base is in Haulbowline, County Cork. Though prece ...

patrol ship LÉ ''Niamh'' moved in around off the coast of

West Cork West Cork () is a tourist region and municipal district in County Cork, Ireland. As a municipal district, West Cork falls within the administrative area of Cork County Council, and includes the towns of Bantry, Castletownbere, Clonakilty, Du ...

at around 11:00

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

on 6 November 2008. The yacht, registered in Britain until July and then de-registered, was escorted into

Castletownbere Castletownbere (), or Castletown Berehaven, is a port town in County Cork, Ireland. It is on the Beara Peninsula by Berehaven Harbour. A regionally important fishing port, the town also serves as a commercial and retail hub for the local hinterl ...

Harbour in West Cork by the Irish patrol ship LÉ ''Róisín'' early on 7 November 2008. Gardaí (the Irish police) removed the 70 bales of cocaine from the vessel and garda technical experts examined it. The haul was taken to local garda stations and later removed to the Department of Justice Forensic Science Laboratory at Garda Headquarters. It later emerged that the yacht was on the verge of capsizing when naval officers swooped on the vessel, with the seventy bales almost being washed into the sea. Authorities were forced to board the ship in "horrendous weather conditions" to prevent a potential loss of evidence as swells swirled in the background. The yacht was seized in the midst of a force seven gale which delayed its onshore arrival by seven hours. The patrol ship LÉ ''Orla'' was deployed to search for bales of the drug while monitoring shipping to ensure they didn't recover any of the haul from the sea

Substance

Initial tests indicate the cocaine seized is 80% pure, 5% more potent than the €440 million Dunlough Bay haul of 2007. According to one source, the average purity of Irish street cocaine is (presumably currently) just 10%, although an older source (data for 1999) states that cocaine purity across Europe is typically 55% to 70%, with Ireland being exceptionally low at 41%. Street prices for cocaine in both the US and Europe have dropped consistently over the last twenty years, indicating supply in this period has outstripped demand.

Convicts

Three male British nationals, initially reported to be aged between 44 and 52, were detained and questioned by gardaí in two separate garda stations in

Bantry Bantry () is a town in the civil parish of Kilmocomoge in the barony of Bantry on the southwest coast of County Cork, Ireland. It lies in West Cork at the head of Bantry Bay, a deep-water gulf extending for to the west. The Beara Peninsula i ...

and

Bandon, County Cork Bandon (; ) is a town in County Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It lies on the River Bandon between two hills. The name in Irish means 'Bridge of the Bandon', a reference to the origin of the town as a crossing point on the river. In 2004 Ba ...

. The men were taken ashore at the small fishing port of

. The three, later named as 49-year-old Philip Doo and 40-year-old David Mufford (both from

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England) and 42-year-old Christopher Wiggins (with an address on Spain's

Costa del Sol The Costa del Sol (; literally "Coast of the Sun") is a region in the south of Spain in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, comprising the coastal towns and communities along the coastline of the Province of ...

), appeared before a special sitting of the

District Court District courts are a category of courts which exists in several nations, some call them "small case court" usually as the lowest level of the hierarchy. These courts generally work under a higher court which exercises control over the lower co ...

Clonakilty Clonakilty (; ), sometimes shortened to Clon, is a town in County Cork, Ireland. The town is at the head of the tidal Clonakilty Bay. The rural hinterland is used mainly for dairy farming. The town's population was 5,112 at the 2022 census. T ...

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

on 8 November 2008. They were charged with possession of cocaine knowing the drug was to be imported into a country other than Ireland. No application for bail was made and the men were remanded in custody to appear in

Kinsale Kinsale ( ; ) is a historic port and fishing town in County Cork, Ireland. Located approximately south of Cork (city), Cork City on the southeast coast near the Old Head of Kinsale, it sits at the mouth of the River Bandon, and has a populatio ...

court again on 13 November 2008. The damaged yacht, believed bound for

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, remains in

. Searches of its logs, charts and navigation computers continue to find evidence that would prove its link to Spanish-based British drugs gang members. The bulk of the cocaine consignment was due for European markets. The three men were each sentenced to ten years in jail on 8 May 2009.

Notes

* On 6 November 2008,

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

750 million was the equivalent of almost £ 609 million and a little over US$. * The €750 million figure was based on the usual law enforcement estimate for a sub-gram quantity heavily cut. Based on the estimated street value of €30–33,000 per kg, the 1875 kg would be worth anything from ≈ €56–60 million.

References