Two admit £580m cocaine ring charge
Two British men have admitted their roles in an international drug smuggling ring after Irish authorities seized 1.7 tonnes of cocaine on a yacht.
Philip Doo, 52, and Christopher Wiggins, 42, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply of the massive haul from South America believed to be worth more than 650 million euro (£580 million).
Doo, of Brixham in Devon, and Wiggins, living in the Costa del Sol in Spain, pleaded guilty at a brief hearing in Cork Circuit Criminal Court.
The pair were detained after Irish navy, gardai and customs swooped on the 60ft ocean-going boat, Dances With Waves, 170 miles off the west Cork coast last November.
Intelligence agencies had tracked the boat for two months across the Atlantic.
A third man, David Mufford, of Torquay, Devon, is also accused of being involved in the smuggling operation and will be brought before the court on Monday to enter a plea.
