A man believed to have supervised a failed attempt to import almost €500m worth of cocaine into Britain through Ireland has been taken into police custody in London.
The man is believed to be one of four gang members who escaped from West Cork at the time of the seizure by gardaí at Dunlough Bay in West Cork in July 2007.
The 45-year-old man, a career criminal from South London, arrived at Heathrow this afternoon on a flight from Madrid where he had been in custody relating to a separate drug trafficking investigation there.
Detectives at the Metropolitan Police in London - who have been involved in a five-year joint investigation with gardaí - believe the man was the senior drug gang member sent to Ireland to supervise the importation of a 1.5-tonne cocaine shipment for onward transportation to Britain.
But the plot failed when one of the boats bringing the drugs ashore capsized in Dunlough Bay in West Cork on 2 July 2007, dumping 62 bales of cocaine into the sea and leading to the biggest drugs seizure in the history of the State.
Four of the gang members arrested here are serving jail sentences ranging from 10 to 30 years. Another two were jailed for 14 and 30 years in Britain.
The man being held by detectives in London is believed to have escaped from Dunlough Bay on foot, before making his way to Spain, where he has spent the past three-and-a-half years in jail.
