Iranian nationals and individuals linked to Hezbollah are suspected of playing a role in a €157 million cocaine trafficking operation intercepted off Ireland’s southern coast in 2023, the Irish Times reported.
The seizure—2.2 tons of cocaine aboard the MV Matthew, a Panamanian-flagged bulk carrier—marked the largest drug bust in Irish history. The vessel was intercepted in a joint operation involving the Irish Naval Service, police and customs officers following months of international intelligence-sharing.
According to the report, investigators believe the transnational operation was coordinated by a network involving the Kinahan organized crime group, associates in Venezuela, and alleged financial backers linked to Iran-backed Hezbollah, a Lebanese group designated as a terrorist organization by several Western governments.
Two Iranian nationals, Soheil Jelveh, 51, and Saeid Hassani, 39, were among eight men sentenced last week by Ireland’s Special Criminal Court. Jelveh, the ship’s captain, and Hassani, a senior officer, were found to have knowingly participated in the smuggling attempt.
The Irish Times said that the court heard of the involvement of “a major Iranian nexus in this operation.”
Prosecutors alleged that the two Iranians acted on instructions from individuals with suspected links to Hezbollah, including a coordinator known as "Captain Noah"—identified in court as Mehdi Bordbar, allegedly operating from Dubai.
According to court documents and law enforcement briefings, the cocaine was loaded onto the MV Matthew off the coast of Venezuela under the cover of night by armed men. The cargo was reportedly financed in part by €5 million in advance payments from organized crime groups, with profits to be distributed among the participants.
“Operations of this scale involve multiple players across continents,” said Angela Willis, Assistant Commissioner for Organized and Serious Crime. “We are continuing to investigate the financial and logistical links, including those with ties to the Middle East.”
Authorities in Ireland are also investigating two individuals who allegedly purchased a secondary vessel, the Castlemore, for €300,000 using funds transferred from Dubai. The boat, intended to collect the drugs offshore, ran aground on Ireland’s Wexford coast due to a mechanical failure, precipitating the unraveling of the trafficking plan.
Eight men—nationals of Iran, the Netherlands, the UK, Ukraine, and the Philippines—have received prison sentences of between 13 and 20 years. However, law enforcement officials emphasized that those convicted were largely mid-level operatives and not the primary architects of the scheme.
