An Irishman convicted of drug smuggling has been jailed for 30 years by a court in London.
Brian Brendan Wright, 60, was convicted at Woolwich Crown Court yesterday of conspiracy to evade prohibition on the importation of a controlled drug and of conspiracy to supply drugs.
The investigation began after the discovery of £80m of cocaine on the Sea Mist yacht, which was seized off the Co Cork coast in September 1996.
UK Customs later learned that another yacht had sailed from the Caribbean to the UK earlier that summer with a 600kg load of cocaine.
Wright, who is from Cork, was the criminal mastermind behind the Wright Organisation, overseeing the shipment of tonnes of cocaine from South America using luxury yachts.
