Irishman dies in Ecuador prison after being held over six-figure cocaine bust
The 64-year-old and his son, who are from the midlands, were arrested earlier this month at Guayaquil Airport and allegedly found in possession of 15kg of cocaine that was being transported to Madrid.
Authorities said they also seized two firearms, more than 50 rounds of ammunition, cash and four mobile phones, as well as GPS devices.
The Irishmen were brought before an investigating magistrate and remanded in custody, with officials specifying that this was in relation to the trafficking of illicit substances.
The Sunday World has learnt that the father died in hospital days after his arrest, having taken ill in his cell.
Stock image
News in 90 Seconds - August 13th
Officials have not yet disclosed the nature of his death, but it is understood he suffered a heart attack on August 6.
The Irish Government is providing assistance to the family of the deceased, while it is understood his son, who is aged in his early 20s, remains in the Ecuadorian prison.
In a statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it 'is aware of the case and is providing consular assistance'.
'As with all consular cases, the Department does not comment on the details of individual cases,' it added.
Efforts are ongoing to repatriate the deceased man to Ireland from Guayaquil, a large port city located on Ecuador's west coast.
Guns seized by Ecuadorian police as part of the drugs bust involving two Irishmen
The country's interior ministry announced details of the arrest earlier this month, saying the men were detained on August 1 for allegedly trafficking illicit controlled substances.
The ministry also published pictures of the drugs operation, showing pixellated images of the two men surrounded by Ecuadorian police.
It also showed pictures of the cocaine blocks, a digital weighing scale, a revolver, a handgun and ammunition.
The interior ministry said the national directorate of anti-drug investigations, in co-ordinated work with other units, 'conducted an anti-narcotics inspection in which they detected suitcases containing 15 packages of controlled substances bound for Madrid'.
Ecuador's Policia Nacional said it prevented 'the shipment of 15 drug packages to Madrid valued at approximately $700,000 [€600,000]'. Read more
'During a controlled operation carried out in Guayaquil, police personnel apprehended two foreign citizens who were transporting 15 blocks contained 14,730 grams of cocaine hidden in their luggage,' the police said.
'With this action, the commercialisation of approximately 147,300 doses of drugs was prevented.'
It added that the estimated value of the cocaine on the European market was $688,627.50.
Ecuador has become one of the largest exporters of cocaine to Europe in recent years, despite not growing the illicit drug.
Drugs are normally trafficked in from neighbouring Colombia or Brazil, before being moved onwards to transit hubs in Europe.
The use of drug mules has also become less common, with criminal gangs focusing on shipping multi-tonne shipments across the Atlantic.
In 2024, Spain reported its largest ever seizure of cocaine (13 tonnes) in a single shipment, concealed in bananas originating from Guayaquil.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Independent
3 hours ago
- Irish Independent
‘I think it'd be really difficult for him' – Howard Webb thinks it's unlikely David Coote could return to refereeing
Former Premier League match official Coote was on Tuesday given an eight-week suspension by the Football Association over abusive words he used about ex-Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp. He was sacked by Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) in December, a month after the video filmed in July 2020 came to light. The 43-year-old has a potential route back into football after the FA said he would be free to officiate again after serving the ban and completing an education programme. But PGMOL boss Webb feels that is unlikely. 'I think it'd be really difficult for David to come back, I'm afraid to say,' said Webb. 'He's somebody that we stayed in contact with, somebody who was part of our refereeing family for a long time and served the game for a long period of time and I've known him personally for many years. 'It's sad what happened with David but I think it would be challenging for him to come back.' Coote's misconduct was defined as an aggravated breach under the FA's rules because there was a reference to Klopp's nationality. In the video, he described Klopp as a 'German c***' and said he was 'f****** arrogant'. Coote was banned by European football's governing body UEFA until June 30, 2026 after a different video emerged of him snorting a white powder through a bank note while in Germany for Euro 2024. In January, Coote came out as gay and said a lifelong struggle to hide his sexuality had contributed to the rant about Klopp and his drug use. ADVERTISEMENT Webb said PGMOL has reviewed and 'beefed up' its support for match officials and their families in the wake of Coote's downfall. 'When it became apparent David had made some bad choices away from the football field, we had to care for him and we had to try to understand why he'd made some of those choices and were they connected to the job,' said Webb. I think it'd be really difficult for David to come back, I'm afraid to say Howard Webb 'We spoke to all of our officials and there was some feedback from them about the support that they think they need. 'It was a good time for us to reflect on the services that we do provide. 'We've got sports psychologists and some element of mental health and wellbeing and support. But there was a recognition that could be beefed up.' Webb, who took charge of the 2010 Champions League and World Cup finals before retiring in 2014, encouraged match officials to be open about personal issues. 'I don't want officials to have a fear that if they step forward and say, 'can we have a chat?' that that's going to impact their appointments,' said the 54-year-old. 'We wanted to really emphasise to them that doing that was a sign of strength and not weakness. 'I think we've made good ground over the last few months in that respect because we've probably not had those conversations previously. I think we've had a few of them since. 'Having been there myself, traditionally you'd say I've got to show strength, I've got to show nobody's getting to me, I've got a thick skin. But I think over time it can weigh you down.'
Sunday World
6 hours ago
- Sunday World
Head of Garda Organised Crime Bureau reveals why ‘top-tier' crime gangs have put away their guns
'BAD FOR BUSINESS' | Head of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau welcomes significant drop in gang violence, but says organised crime has not gone away Detective Chief Superintendent Séamus Boland said the GNDOCB's central strategy is to 'disrupt, dismantle, prosecute' organised crime gangs Detective Chief Superintendent Séamus Boland said 22 'top-tier' gangs are operating in Ireland, but there have been no gangland gun murders this year so far. Gardaí have also not been involved in foiling any murder plots, known as 'life-saving interventions', so far this year, and the bureau has seized just one firearm since January 1. This is 'an indication of how quiet the higher end of violence in organised crime is now', Mr Boland told the Sunday World , adding that the bureau has engaged in a total of 83 life-saving interventions since 2016. Of that figure, there were three last year and none in 2023. In 2016, there were 20 such operations; 26 in 2017; and 13 in 2018 as the Hutch-Kinahan feud threatened to spiral out of control. There were 14 in 2019 before the need for these 'intense' special operations lessened from that year onwards, which Mr Boland said is an indication of a decrease of murders and attacks at the highest levels of organised crime. Mr Boland, who is in charge of over 100 detectives, said it is 'bad for business' for criminal gangs to be engaged in gun crime, and they have finally realised this. He said the decrease is also a result of his bureau's strategy of targeting 'the people who were willing to pull the triggers'. 'A lot of people are serving lengthy sentences in our prison system for specific crimes, but they are without doubt responsible for multiple other violent crimes over the previous two decades,' Mr Boland said. Mr Boland said €82m in drugs has been seized so far this year, most of it cocaine Detective Chief Superintendent Séamus Boland said the GNDOCB's central strategy is to 'disrupt, dismantle, prosecute' organised crime gangs News in 90 Seconds - August 15th He added that gardaí have used intense and proactive investigations to take the majority of these criminals off the streets. 'Ireland is unique across Europe in that violent high-level crime is increasing in European countries, but the opposite is the experience here to date [this year]. That can change overnight and that is the challenge.' Mr Boland also revealed that €82m in drugs has been seized by the bureau so far this year, most of it cocaine, along with just over €1.4m in cash. He said 20 firearms were seized by the bureau last year, but 18 were linked to the investigation into Newry man Mark McCourt (34), who was arrested by GNDOCB officers in Co Louth in July last year. Mark McCourt and the seized weapons The Special Criminal Court heard last month that McCourt was the leader of an organised crime group supplying guns, ammunition and pipe bombs to other gangs north and south of the Border. 'If you go back to the height of the [Hutch-Kinahan] feud, 18 firearms were seized by GNDOCB in 2016, and we had 29 in 2017,' Mr Boland said. 'It is an indication of the work we are engaging in – how the higher end of organised groups up to now appeared to have pulled back from the extreme levels of violence they were engaged in.' However, Mr Boland stressed the need for vigilance, and pointed out that 10 years after the bureau began targeting them, the Kinahan crime group remain a target as they have not been fully dismantled. Disrupt, dismantle, prosecute. That is our strategy and we need to be resilient with all these groups When asked whether the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was close to making a decision two years after the bureau submitted a massive, lengthy file on the gang's leadership, who are still based in Dubai, Mr Boland said there was no indication yet of a decision to charge Daniel and Christopher Kinahan and their father Christy Sr. 'Disrupt, dismantle, prosecute. That is our strategy and we need to be resilient with all these groups,' he said. While Mr Boland did not name any of the 22 major organised crime gangs who operate in Ireland, they include outfits such as The Family gang, the Mr Big mob, the Limerick-based Keane gang and the Hutch organised crime gang. These gangs feed off each other and assist each other, he said. They need 'logistic routes' into Ireland, whether it is the postal service, containers and trucks on ferries. 'It is all to do with corruption,' he said. 'They corrupt international truck drivers, they corrupt people who are working in ports and airports and they corrupt crews on bulk tankers.' Christy Kinahan Sr Mr Boland said only three crew members on a large vessel need to know about a drug-smuggling plot, sometimes involving multiple tonnes of cocaine, and can get paid hundreds of thousands of euro for their involvement in each shipment. 'Corruption is a huge factor. We can't identify all these corrupt people on our own,' Mr Boland said. 'We are very dependent on people who are legitimately working in these industries who have great knowledge of who the corrupt actors are, so we engage very closely with these people with our partners in Customs.' He said the bureau is 'well and truly alive' and 'conscious' of the efforts of transnational crime groups' attempts to corrupt people working at ports of entry into Ireland, and cited a successful operation that led to employees at Dublin Airport being convicted of importing cocaine over several years. Mr Boland has spent most of his long career investigating organised crime. He was a sergeant and lead investigator in the drugs unit at Pearse Street garda station when his team were involved in the seizure of over €1.5m of cocaine and ecstasy at a Holiday Inn in Dublin's south inner city in March 2000. This seizure led to a bitter falling-out among once-close associates in what became known as the Crumlin-Drimnagh feud, a bloody gang war claimed 16 lives. Cocaine seizure made by officers of the GNDOCB Reflecting on developments in the 25 years since, Mr Boland said: 'It was a totally different world back then. As a police organisation, we did not have the capabilities and the resilience that we have now to tackle these groups. 'He praised the 'very strong' organised crime legislation dating from 2006, as well as more recent money-laundering legislation, describing it as 'an absolute game-changer for us'. 'When I think back to who were the main organised crime groups in Ireland around that time, and even a few years before that, what we definitely have discovered is that people don't retire from organised crime,' he said. Recalling the Holiday Inn seizure, Mr Boland said that even then, the Kinahan group were ultimately responsible in the background for what was a huge haul at the time. 'One hundred per cent, absolutely – it was all part of that network. Leopards don't change their spots,' he added. Mr Boland stressed the need for proactive, rather than reactive, policing strategies when investigating groups such as the Kinahan cartel, who 'became so powerful in their own minds that they decided who lived or who died, and sometimes this was for some very minor arguments or personal grievances'.
Irish Independent
9 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Donal Fallon: Death of ‘Palestinian Pele' in Gaza exposes indecisive Fifa and Uefa's hypocrisy
As Besiktas players warmed up before their Conference League qualifier against St Patrick's Athletic last week in Tallaght Stadium, their players wore T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan 'Stop Crimes against Humanity'. Players from Istanbul Basaksehir and Fenerbahce would do the same before their respective European qualifiers, pointing to a co-ordinated action among footballers from the top tier of the game in Turkey.
