Operation Seabight

1.5 tonnes (1.7 short tons) of cocaine valued at €440 million washed up on the Cork coast near Mizen Head following an attempted trafficking scam that failed when one of the men filled their petrol-powered motor engine with diesel.

[5] The seizure was masterminded by the Lisbon-based anti-trafficking body, Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre – Narcotics (MAOC-N), which is staffed by law enforcement personnel from Ireland, United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, France and Italy.

MAOC-N tracked it across the Atlantic Ocean before the Irish Naval Service patrol ship LÉ Niamh moved in around 150 nautical miles (280 km; 170 mi) off the coast of West Cork at around 11:00 UTC on 6 November 2008.

The yacht, registered in Britain until July and then de-registered, was escorted into Castletownbere Harbour in West Cork by the Irish patrol ship LÉ Róisín early on 7 November 2008.

[15] 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 and Bandon, County Cork.

[16] The three, later named as 49-year-old Philip Doo and 40-year-old David Mufford (both from Devon, England) and 42-year-old Christopher Wiggins (with an address on Spain's Costa del Sol), appeared before a special sitting of the District Court in Clonakilty, County Cork on 8 November 2008.

Searches of its logs, charts and navigation computers continue to find evidence that would prove its link to Spanish-based British drugs gang members.