Operation Seabight
| Date | 6-7 November 2008 |
|---|---|
| Location | Porcupine Seabight, Porcupine Bank |
| Type | Law enforcement operation |
| Target | Cocaine shipment, drug traffickers |
| Perpetrator | Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre – Narcotics (MAOC-N), Irish Naval Service, Gardaí |
| Organised by | MAOC-N |
| Participants | Law enforcement personnel from Ireland, United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, France and Italy. |
| Outcome | Seizure of cocaine, arrest and conviction of three individuals. |
| Arrests | 3 |
| Convicted | 3 |
| Charges | Possession of cocaine knowing the drug was to be imported into a country other than Ireland. |
| Verdict | Guilty |
| Convictions | 3 |
| Sentence | 10 years each |
| Largest cocaine haul in Irish history at the time (later surpassed). Yacht: Dances with Waves. | |
Operation Seabight, or Sea Bight, is the codename used to describe the tracking and eventual seizure of up to €750 million[a][b] of cocaine off the Irish coast in November 2008, originally thought to have been the largest such haul in the history of Ireland and one of the largest in Europe in 2008. The figures were later revised to show that this was in fact the second largest haul in Irish history. The seizure took place off the south-west coast and eclipsed the discovery of €440 million of cocaine near Mizen Head in July 2007. A 60-foot (18 m) yacht containing more than seventy bales of the substance was seized by a team of European anti-drugs agencies led by Irish authorities. Three men were also apprehended and later each was sentenced to ten years in jail.
The seizure came just one day after the fourth man involved in Ireland's previous record haul in 2007 was sentenced to ten years imprisonment. 1.5 tonnes (1.7 short tons) of cocaine valued at €440 million washed up on the Cork coast near Mizen Head following an attempted trafficking scam that failed when one of the men filled their petrol-powered motor engine with diesel. The inflatable launch overturned and dumped sixty-two bales of cocaine into the sea. Three of the men involved in the operation were sentenced earlier in 2008 for a total of eighty-five years.