Irish authorities released the Bulgarian "Verila" ship, detained as part of cocaine smuggling investigation

“Verila” ship, which was detained in Ireland for drugs on board, has been released. This was announced by the Navigation Maritime Bulgare, Navibulgar, which owns the vessel.

It will leave the port of Foynes later today, January 17, after being cleared by the Irish authorities. It should be recalled that the "Verila" ship was detained on December 19, and about 300 kg of cocaine were found on board.

The crew, 17 Bulgarians and one Ukrainian, were detained in connection with investigation into drug smuggling. The Irish authorities left only two people in custody - the second engineer Kamen Petkov, 35, and the helmsman Nikola Penchev, 32. They are facing drug smuggling charges, the first hearing was on January 9, authorities in Ireland gave no details about it. In the first days of January, the rest of the crew returned to Bulgaria.

The ship will sail today with the new crew that replaced them. In a letter to the Executive Director of the Navigation Maritime Bulgare, Captain Alexander Kalchev thanked the Irish investigating authorities for their swift and efficient action in identifying the guilty parties. The Navigation Maritime Bulgare said it would continue to cooperate with the investigation so that the perpetrators could be punished with the full stricness of the law.

The company will also take parallel legal action against anyone found and proven to be involved in this serious crime, the statement added.

Five Bulgarians from the crew of “Verila” ship detained in Ireland

The Bulgarian ship "Verila" was transporting drugs worth at least €20 million, Irish media wrote