A LIVERPOOL man who led authorities to the largest ever drugs seizure in Ireland was jailed yesterday for 10 years.
Gerard Hagan, who had to swim ashore for help as an inflatable boat carrying 1.5 tonnes of cocaine overturned in rough seas, pleaded guilty to his role in an international drugs smuggling operation.
The 24-year-old, of Hollow Croft, Stockbridge Village, was among four men arrested when £323m worth of the drug washed up off the south west coast of Cork last July.
Three others – who were jailed for a total of 85 years – have lodged appeals against their convictions and sentences.
Perry Wharrie – a career criminal from Essex – and Martin Wanden, 45, of no fixed address, were both jailed for 30 years for their parts in the foiled plan. Joe Daly, 41, of Bexley, Kent, was given a 25-year sentence.
A fifth man fled and was never caught.
Hagan was hurried into Cork courthouse as teams of heavily armed gardai stood watch.
Circuit Criminal Court Judge Sean O Donnabhain gave him credit for pleading guilty to possession of drugs for sale or supply at the start of a lengthy trial this summer.
“Obviously I accept there can be no comparison in the sentence I give you and the men who engaged in blatant cynical perjury, the manner in which you met this case puts you on a completely different pedestal,” the judge told Hagan.
A senior officer told the court Hagan's admission and subsequent information on the smuggling operation were crucial to the investigation.
Detective Sergeant Feargal Foley also commended Hagan for saving the life of Wanden who, he said, would have died of hypothermia in the cold sea if Hagan had not phoned authorities.
Hagan was living in near Fuengirola on Spain’s Costa Del Sol with his girlfriend when he was recruited to take part in the smuggling operation for £5,000.
He flew to the UK in February 2007 where he was issued with a fake passport at the Irish Embassy in London in the name of Gerard O’Leary from Co Monaghan. A solicitor’s office was set up in London and a fax line manned to confirm O’Leary’s identity when inquiries were made.
Det Sgt Foley said Hagan flew to Trinidad and Tobago on the passport and boarded a catamaran called the Lucky Day crewed by two Lithuanians.
Around 250 miles from the coastline the cocaine was transferred on to the Lucky Day and the men set sail for the Irish coast.
Hagan told officers he was responsible for making sure the cocaine, later found to be 75% pure, was transported safely across the Atlantic and delivered to gang members in Ireland.
The plan backfired on July 2 when the cocaine was moved from the mother ship to a small Rib just off the Cork coast.
Diesel was put in to a petrol engine of the inflatable boat, it cut out, and force six gales and strong currents carried the Rib into the rugged Dunlough Bay where it capsized.
