The public and local coastal agencies are being urged to keep a close watch on the seas around West Cork, in a bid to help gardaí detect drug smuggling.
THE public and local coastal agencies are being urged to keep a close watch on the seas around West Cork, in a bid to help gardaí detect drug smuggling.
At a major multi-agency Coastal Watch seminar in Kinsale on Wednesday, gardaí and the Revenue’s Customs Service re-launched an initiative to help stem the tide of illegal drug importation.
‘With a multi-disciplinary approach by everybody who attended today’s seminar, it will mean a formidable force in ensuring that our coastline is not used for drug importation, or if it is, that there are many eyes that will report unusual activity along our coastline,’ said Chief Supt Con Cadogan of the West Cork garda division.
The aim of the meeting was to promote vigilance among coastal communities in West Cork and also among the range of organisations and agencies that operate at sea and along the coast.
Attendees received information about risk indicators and previous case studies of successful drug detections.
The public have been urged to look out for suspicious activity including: ships and yachts in remote areas; crew making landings in remote areas; unusual objects at sea or ashore; ships away from normal shipping lanes; vessels operating at night without lights and packages floating in the sea, lying on the beach or hidden close to the shore.