Interdiction of MV Matthew

Matthew, known as MV Honmon until shortly before the incident, had been monitored for weeks based on information from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration as relayed through the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre—Narcotics, and had apparently attempted to rendezvous with the Irish trawler Castlemore before Castlemore became trapped in a sandbank and Matthew experienced engine trouble.

MV Honmon, a 190-metre-long (620 ft) bulk carrier built in 2001,[1] with a clean slate from port states in the preceding 20 years,[2] was bought by new owners in the summer of 2023.

[2] On 10 August, ownership was transferred from Seawin Marine to Matthew Maritime of the Marshall Islands,[2] which intelligence analysts began to suspect was a shell company.

William Butler Yeats abandoned plans of a naval boarding and instead called for the assistance of the Army Ranger Wing, who were on standby.

[4] Investigators found 2,253 kilograms (4,967 lb) of South American cocaine aboard Matthew, worth approximately €157 million, amounting to the largest drugs seizure in Irish history.