A BULGARIAN man has admitted his role in smuggling over €20million worth of cocaine to Ireland from Brazil, a court heard today.
Nikola Penchev, 34, pleaded guilty before Limerick Circuit Criminal Court to one count of possession of cocaine in excess of €13,000 for sale or supply, contrary to Section 15 (A) of the Misuse of Drugs Act.
Penchev, with an address at Velicki, Preslav, Bulgaria, spoke only to confer his “guilty” plea during the brief court hearing, Thursday.
The offence carries a mandatory prescriptive minimum ten-year jail sentence unless a court finds extenuating exceptional circumstances that would allow a reduced term.
The €21.6million total cocaine haul was smuggled on board the MV Verila cargo ship, which travelled from Brazil to Canada and onto Foynes Port, Co Limerick, bringing with it a legal consignment of sugar and grain.
The drugs were discovered by Revenue Customs officers who searched the ship after it had docked at Foynes Port, on December 19, 2023.
The drugs were to be dropped overboard and collected for transportation across Ireland and the rest of Europe, but this did not happen.
After pleading guilty, Penchev was remanded in continuing custody for sentence on April 9.
A co-accused man, Kamen Petkov, also from Bulgaria, who pleaded guilty to the same offence was jailed for ten years last December.
Judge Colin Daly told Petkov’s sentencing hearing that Petkov had been in control of “such a large quantity of drugs that it was impossible not to conclude that thousands of lives would have been affected by such a volume of drugs”.
Petkov, 36, told Gardai, following his arrest, that he had agreed to smuggle the drugs for a €150,000 fee, as he had massive gambling debts.
Judge Daly said Petkov “facilitated organised crime internationally for a significant reward”.
Detective Garda Adrian Cahill, Limerick Divisional Drugs Unit, told the sentencing hearing that the cocaine found on board the vessel was “pure cocaine, with a potential value of five times that amount on the street” estimated at €105million.
A total of 12 bales of cocaine were discovered hidden in an air-conditioning room on the bulk vessel.
The Maltese registered vessel sailed on to Santos Port, Brazil, and Hamilton Port, Canada, before reaching Foynes.
