Man charged in €60m West Cork drug case suffers heart attack

A man charged in connection with an alleged €60 million cocaine trafficking conspiracy in West Cork suffered a heart attack on Friday and is due to undergo bypass surgery later this week.

Defence barrister David Perry told the Special Criminal Court on Monday that the 50‑year‑old Iranian‑Dutch national, Ali Ghasemi Mazidi, will be unable to attend his scheduled trial in November because of his medical condition.

Mazidi, who lives in the Netherlands, is one of ten men charged with conspiring to import controlled drugs into the State between 27 February and 14 March 2024. Gardaí arrested the group in the West Cork villages of Tragumna and Leap in March, seizing a camper van, an articulated truck, a modified rigid inflatable boat, a jeep, GPS devices, satellite phones, wetsuits and other nautical equipment.

The prosecution alleges the modified boat, painted black and equipped with powerful engines, attempted to meet the Panama‑flagged cargo ship Cool Explorer off the British coast, carrying at least 850 kg of cocaine valued at €58‑59 million, which later washed ashore near Sjaellands Odde, Denmark.

Seven of the men have pleaded guilty and received reduced sentences totalling 70 years. The remaining three defendants – Mazidi, 50‑year‑old Spanish national Raul Tabares Garcia and 39‑year‑old Sean Curran of County Fermanagh – have a trial date set for 11 November, which may be adjourned due to Mazidi’s health and ongoing data‑analysis issues.

Source: Irish Examiner. Photo: Zachary Caraway / Pexels.