A BULGARIAN MAN was remanded in custody for sentencing after admitting his role in smuggling over €20 million worth of cocaine to Ireland from Brazil.

Nikola Penchev (34), pleaded guilty before Limerick Circuit Criminal Court to one count of possession of cocaine in excess of €13,000 for sale or supply, contrary to Section 15 (A) of the Misuse of Drugs Act.

Penchev, with an address at Velicki, Preslav, Bulgaria, spoke only to confer his “guilty” plea during the brief court hearing on Thursday.

The offence carries a mandatory prescriptive minimum ten-year jail sentence unless a court finds extenuating exceptional circumstances that would allow a reduced term.

The €21.6 million total cocaine haul was smuggled on board the MV Verila cargo ship, which travelled from Brazil to Canada and onto Foynes Port, Co Limerick, bringing with it a legal consignment of sugar and grain.

The drugs were discovered by Revenue Customs officers who searched the ship after it had docked at Foynes Port, on December 19, 2023. The drugs were to be dropped overboard and collected for transportation across Ireland and the rest of Europe, but this did not happen.

After pleading guilty, Penchev was remanded in continuing custody for sentence on April 9th.

A co-accused man, Kamen Petkov, also from Bulgaria, who pleaded guilty to the same offence was jailed for ten years last December.

Judge Colin Daly told Petkov’s sentencing hearing that Petkov had been in control of “such a large quantity of drugs that it was impossible not to conclude that thousands of lives would have been affected by such a volume of drugs”.

Petkov, (36), told gardaí following his arrest that he had agreed to smuggle the drugs for a €150,000 fee, as he had massive gambling debts.

Judge Daly said Petkov “facilitated organised crime internationally for a significant reward”.

Detective Garda Adrian Cahill, Limerick Divisional Drugs Unit, told the sentencing hearing that the cocaine found on board the vessel was “pure cocaine, with a potential value of five times that amount on the street” estimated at €105million.

A total of 12 bales of cocaine were discovered hidden in an air-conditioning room on the bulk vessel.

Judge Daly said that while he accepted that a prison sentence in Ireland would be “more difficult” for a non-Irish national, “this does not persuade me to impose a sentence below the prescriptive minimum term”.

“The accused must have been aware he was involved in smuggling drugs of enormous quantity, across thousands of miles, across continents. He [Petkov] assisted the loading of the drugs onto the ship and he was in control of the drugs on board,” the judge said.

Prosecuting barrister, Lily Buckley, told the hearing that Petkov had been approached by unidentified “security” persons at Antoniana Port, Brazil, to smuggle the drugs on board the ship.

The Maltese registered vessel sailed on to Santos Port, Brazil, and Hamilton Port, Canada, before reaching Foynes.

Petkov told gardaí that he had tied the drug bales together and attached life jackets and a transmitter to the haul, and that he was expected to drop the bales overboard before the ship docked at Foynes Port.

He was given a mobile phone to stay in touch with drug dealers in Bolivia and Paraguay and was instructed to drop the cocaine into waters at Glin Pier, west County Limerick, but Petkov told Gardai that he did not see anyone at the pier to collect the bales so, he put the drugs back in their hiding place on board the ship.

Detective Garda Cahill said Petkov had helped “load” the drugs on the ship in Brazil, he was in “full control” of the drugs during the sailing, and he was the “point of contact” for his criminal paymasters.

Garda Cahill said Garda forensics found Petkov’s DNA on a “sophisticated” light beacon that he had attached to a transmitter on the cocaine bales.

Petkov, a father of one and qualified electrician, had regularly worked five-month contracts at sea on board cargo ships.

He told gardaí it was his first time being involved in smuggling drugs, and that he had actually not received any payment.

It’s his first criminal conviction, the court heard.