Four men have pleaded guilty before Dublin’s Special Criminal Court to possessing 2.2 tonnes of cocaine with an estimated value of €157m (£130m) discovered on a Panamanian cargo ship.
The four were due to go on trial earlier this week after failing to have the charges dismissed in connection with the largest drugs seizure in Irish history.
Ukrainians Mykhailo Gavryk (32) and Vitaliy Vlasoi, also 32, Iranian Soheil Jelveh (51) and Dutch national Cumali Ozgen (49) appeared before the non jury, three-judge court in Dublin on Thursday.
They were arrested in September 2023, during a dramatic operation carried out by the Army Rangers, the specialist wing of the Irish Defence Forces.
Rangers were ferried by helicopter off the coast of Co Cork before storming the MV Matthew after it failed to stop when ordered to do so by an Irish Navy vessel.
During searches, the tonnes of cocaine were discovered, the equivalent of close to 5,000lbs.
Linked searches in Newry were carried out by the PSNI several months after the seizure.
The men had applied to the court on January 13 to have the charges against them dismissed.
Sean Guerin SC, for the State, told the court the four guilty pleas to possessing the drugs for sale or supply were acceptable to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Ms Justice Melanie Greally, presiding, sitting with Judge Sarah Berkeley and Judge Grainne Malone, remanded the four defendants in custody until February 24.
Two other defendants Iranian Saeid Hassani (39) and Filipino Harold Estoesta (31) will stand trial on Monday in the Special Criminal Court.
A seventh man, Ukrainian national Vitaliy Lapa (62), last month pleaded guilty to attempting to possess cocaine for sale or supply and involvement in a criminal organisation.
UK national Jamie Harbron (31), from Billingham in Co Durham, also pleaded guilty to attempting to possess cocaine.
