Two Irishmen are among 11 people being held in Spain in connection with one of Europe's biggest cocaine hauls to date.
More than four tonnes of the class-A drug, worth an estimated €330 million, were seized on a fishing boat thought to be on its way from Colombia to Spain. The cocaine would then have been distributed to other European countries including Ireland, officials said.
Eleven people, including Spaniards and Colombians, were arrested in the Costa del Sol and Galicia regions of Spain last Friday.
Among them was an Irishman who has been living in Spain and is reportedly well-known to gardaí. The other man is a Marbella resident who, according to the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), has dual Irish and British citizenship. He has been accused of leading a British gang involved in the operation.
"Our consulate will be in touch with all the British people involved over the next few days to see if our assistance is required," a Foreign Office spokesman said. "It will be up to him to say if he wants to be represented by British or Irish authorities."
A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said it was aware of reports that Irish nationals were among those arrested and last night it was attempting to establish if its consular services was required.
The spokeswoman said it was up to any Irish citizen in trouble abroad to seek consular assistance. Last night, the department had received no such application.
The operation was the culmination of a two-year investigation involving police forces and customs officials from several European countries.
"This cocaine seizure, one of the largest ever in Europe, demonstrates how effective law enforcement can be, and must be, in fighting this global trade," said a spokesman for the investigation.
"Police authorities can be justifiably proud of this magnificent achievement. This operation has prevented over four tonnes of cocaine from reaching the streets of Europe and causing untold harm to our societies," he said.
Miguel Garcia Izquierdo, director of a Spanish police unit specialising in drug trafficking and organised crime, said the gang smashed in the operation had the highest capacity ever seen for smuggling cocaine into Spain.
Two of those arrested in the northeastern province of Galicia were sons of a reputed drug trafficker killed by hitmen in 1994 after co-operating with police in a investigation of a separate drug gang, he added.
One of those sons is considered to be the head of a powerful Galician crime gang.
According to Spain's interior ministry, the gang runs the largest cocaine-smuggling ring in Europe.
Mr Garcia Izquierdo said the investigation began two years ago when police uncovered British citizens who had contacts with a major drug-smuggling ring based in Galicia.
This was the second major drugs haul in Spain in the last month.
Earlier in May, Spanish authorities seized three tonnes of cocaine hidden in furniture imported from Venezuela to the Mediterranean port of Barcelona.