LAST UPDATE | 3 Oct 2023
FOUR MEN APPEARED in Mallow District Court in Co Cork today charged in connection with the seizure of 2.2 tonnes of cocaine worth over €150 million aboard a Panamanian-registered ship off Ballycotton last week.
Mykhailo Gavryk (30), Cumali Ozgen (48), Saeid Hassani (38) and Vitaliy Vlasoi (30) were charged with conspiracy to have in their possession, on 24 September in the State, a controlled drug, namely cocaine, for the purpose of supplying the drug and with the drug having a value in excess of €13,000 contrary to Section 5 and Section 15A of the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1977.
Gavryk and Vlasoi are natives of Ukraine. Ozgen is a Dutch national who was born in Turkey whilst Hassani is from Iran. All four men have addresses outside the jurisdiction.
The men did not speak except to confirm what type of translators they would need.
Several of the men required interpreters to translate the evidence from Dutch, Ukrainian and Farsi. They had been detained in Cobh and Fermoy Garda Stations.
Evidence of arrest, charge and caution was given by Garda David Moran, Detective Garda Mark Donovan, Detective Garda Val Sullivan and Detective Garda Lorraine Brennan. Detective Garda Moran is from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau.
Judge Colm Roberts was told that Gavryk, Ozgen and Hassani made no reply when they were formally charged under caution.
Detective Garda Sullivan said that when the charge was put to Vlasoi he stated: “I saw straight or direct evidence of the connection between the captain and another vessel or with somebody else who he contacted. It was shown as straight evidence. I did not see straight evidence against myself.”
Sergeant Linda O’Leary said that the nature of the charges precluded the defendants from applying for bail at District Court level. She applied for the defendants to be remanded in custody to appear again on 10 October next.
The men were represented by solicitors Joe Cuddigan, Don Ryan, Ciara Hallinan and David O’Meara.
Judge Roberts remanded all four men in custody to appear in the court again by video link on 10 October. None of the men spoke during the brief hearing.
Cuddigan, representing Vlasoi, said that he wanted to put it on the record that he would be making an application to have an expert obtain access to the MV Matthew which was central to the Garda probe but was a “moveable object”.
Ryan, representing Hassani, made a similar application in relation to his client.
Meanwhile, the issue of legal aid will be dealt with a the next court sitting.
Seven people have now been charged in relation to the seizure of cocaine aboard the bulk carrier, MV Matthew off the Irish coast last week. The haul is the largest seizure of drugs in the history of the State.
The major operation involved gardaí, the Defence Forces, the Irish Coast Guard and Revenue.
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