Ship sparky sailed globe before trying to smuggle €21m of pure cocaine into Ireland

Our pictures show how Kamen Petkov’s travels took in Panama City, Montevideo in Uruguay, Dammam in Saudi Arabia, the Kinahan cartel’s Dubai bolthole, the pirate ridden waters of the Gulf of Aden, Brazil and the waters off Sicily, Italy and Morocco.

The 36-year-old from Varna, Bulgaria can be seen posing with an automatic rifle ‘transiting the high risk’ Gulf of Aden, posing next to a waxwork of Pele in Brazil, as well as performing his more mundane duties on board the Maltese registered vessel, the MV Verila.

But the seafaring electrician’s travels came to an abrupt end on December 19, 2023 when customs officers, acting on a confidential tip-off, searched the vessel after it docked, and discovered 12 large bales of cocaine hidden in an air-conditioning room on board the ship

Detective Garda Adrian Cahill of Limerick Divisional Drugs Unit, gave evidence at Petkov’s sentencing hearing in Limerick that the €21m cocaine haul was “pure cocaine, with a potential value of five times that amount on the street” estimated at €105m.

Jailing the Bulgarian for 10 years, Judge Colin Daly said Petkov had been in control of “such a large quantity of drugs that it was impossible not to conclude that thousands of lives would have been affected by such a volume of drugs.”

Petkov, who had no previous convictions, was arrested three days after the ship docked at Foynes after customs officials discovered 12 large bales of cocaine hidden in an air-conditioning room on board the ship at Foynes Port.

Prosecuting barrister Lily Buckley said Petkov was approached by unidentified “security” persons at Antoniana Port, Brazil, to facilitate the drug smuggling operation.

Petkov said he hid the drugs underneath beds in unoccupied cabins on the ship which journeyed on to Santos Port, Brazil, and Hamilton Port, Canada, before reaching its final destination at Foynes.

Petkov said he tied the drug bales together with rope and attached life jackets and a transmitter.

He was given a mobile phone to stay in touch with drug dealers in Bolivia and Paraguay and instructed to drop the cocaine bales overboard when the ship reached Glin Pier in Limerick, prior to its arrival at Foynes Port.

The 12 bales contained 308.6 kilos of cocaine, wrapped into 306 separate packages, valued at €21,604,891. Petkov told gardaí he did not make the drop at Glin because when the ship reached the location he became worried when he could not see anybody there to collect the drugs.

Detective Garda Cahill said Petkov “was involved in the loading of the drugs, he was in full control of the drugs on the ship, he was the point of contact for others and he was fully in charge of directing the operation on board”.

The Det Garda also told the court that Petkov’s DNA was found on a “sophisticated” light beacon on a transmitter he’d attached to the drug bales.

Petkov, a qualified electrician, regularly worked five-month contracts at sea on cargo ships, but he told gardaí it was his first time being involved in smuggling drugs, and that he had not received any payment for the drug run.

Following his arrest, Petkov told gardaí he had gambling debts of €37,000 and that he was to be paid €150,000 for managing the drug shipment on board the MV Verila.

Judge Daly said Petkov, who was assisted in court by a Bulgarian interpreter, played a “very important role in moving a huge quantity of cocaine across continents” and he considered a headline sentence of 15 years was appropriate.

The judge said he was reducing the sentence to 10 years after “taking into consideration the accused’s early guilty pleas, his co-operation with gardaí, his admissions which exonerated other crew members, and his previous good character.”