BUSTED: RTÉ series goes inside Ireland’s record €157m cocaine seizure
Saturday 31 October 2026
The seizure of 2.2 tonnes of cocaine from a cargo ship off the Cork coast is among the operations examined in BUSTED, a new documentary series exploring how international drug trafficking networks have been intercepted in Ireland.
Beginning on Monday, 2 November, the three-part series combines real-time footage with first-hand accounts from people involved in major anti-drug operations.
Its stories stretch from an Army Ranger Wing boarding at sea to cocaine bales discovered in a Cork cove and a garden centre used in an international crystal meth smuggling operation.
Inside the record cocaine seizure
On 26 September 2023, authorities seized 2.2 tonnes of cocaine, with an estimated street value of €157 million, aboard a 28,000-tonne Panama-registered bulk carrier off the Cork coast.
The haul was the largest drug seizure in the history of the State. BUSTED examines how the Army Ranger Wing carried out the high-seas boarding, using footage of the operation and accounts from those involved.
The series also follows the work of Gardaí, Defence Forces personnel and Customs officers tackling international trafficking networks, showing how operations unfolded at sea and in communities across the country.
Cocaine in a cove and a garden centre connection
Other cases featured include the discovery of 62 bales of cocaine floating in a Cork cove and what RTÉ describes as the largest crystal meth seizure in Irish history, uncovered in County Kerry.
The programme also examines a case involving the Sinaloa Cartel’s use of a garden centre to smuggle crystal meth from the Americas to Australia.
Alongside the enforcement operations, first-hand testimony explores how bad weather, poor planning and bad luck contributed to traffickers losing drug shipments worth hundreds of millions of euro.
When to watch BUSTED
BUSTED begins on Monday, 2 November at 9.35pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.
Across its three parts, the series takes viewers beyond the headline seizure figures to hear how the drugs were discovered and intercepted, and from the people who carried out the operations.
