Man sentenced after NI's biggest cocaine seizure

A 41-year-old man has received a six-year sentence for his role in what police said was the largest ever seizure of cocaine in Northern Ireland.

Ciaran McBride, of Listrakelt Road, Derrynoose, was arrested in December 2023 after officers found cocaine with an estimated street value of £12m in Jonesborough, County Armagh.

The drugs were discovered under a false floor in a frozen meat truck.

McBride had been at an industrial park on the Lower Foughill Road in Jonesborough when his lorry was searched on 11 December 2023.

That road runs parallel to the main Dublin-Belfast road and is just yards from the border.

The court heard that the truck nominally contained minced pork but had two "sophisticated hides" which contained 118kg of cocaine with a purity of 70-82%.

This had a street value of up to £12m.

Friday's sentencing hearing was at Newry Crown Court.

Judge Paul Ramsey KC said that the sentence was being handed down on the basis of a November 2025 guilty plea made by McBride.

He said this highlighted that the defendant had agreed to transfer a singular load, that he was aware it was drugs but was unaware of the loads size or purity and that he did it for a day's pay, estimated to be €100 (£84).

The plea highlighted that McBride did not know the organisation involved and would not have received any of the money from the loads subsequent sale.

The court heard that his DNA had been found on bolts of one of the two hide boxes.

In sentencing McBride to three years in prison and three on licence, judge Ramsey said: "It certainly is a large quantity of drugs but sentencing has to be on the basis of plea."

A destruction order was placed on the drugs.

In a statement issued after the sentencing, Det Insp Conor Sweeney, from the Police Service of Northern Ireland's (PSNI) Organised Crime Branch, described the amount of cocaine as "massive".

He said: "The sophistication of the operation, from the concealment method to the sheer amount of cocaine recovered, gives a clear indication of the scale of organised criminality involved.

"It's my belief that the drugs, coming from the Netherlands, were destined for distribution and sale across communities here in Northern Ireland."