Seven men sentenced to a combined 70 years over West Cork drug import conspiracy

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Seven men who pleaded guilty to taking part in an international conspiracy to import controlled drugs were sentenced at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin on 11 December 2025. Their prison terms ranged from eight to 11 years, with a combined total of 70 years.

The men were Aleksander Milic, Mario Angel Del Rio Sanz, Anuar Rahui Chairi, Juan Antonio Gallardo Barroso, Pedro Pablo Ojeda Ortega, Angel Serran Padilla and Kiumaars Ghabiri. The court imposed an 11-year sentence on Ghabiri, 11 years each on Del Rio Sanz and Rahui Chairi, 11 years on Padilla, 10 years on Ortega, and eight years each on Gallardo Barroso and Milic. The sentences were reduced from headline terms of 18 years to reflect guilty pleas and individual mitigation.

The men had pleaded guilty to conspiring to import controlled drugs between 27 February and 14 March 2024. The operation involved an attempted sea rendezvous with the cargo ship Cool Explorer; the court heard that 840kg of cocaine later washed up in Denmark. The court said the conspiracy involved extensive planning and logistics, and that the group had underestimated local vigilance and law enforcement.