Operation Piano : The Inside Story of Ireland’s Record Breaking Cocaine Bust

The air was thick with tension and the spray of a churning Atlantic. On September 26, 2023, off the coast of Ireland, elite soldiers of the Irish Army Ranger Wing (ARW) prepared for a perilous fast-rope descent onto the pitching deck of the MV Matthew. Below them, the bulk carrier, a vessel of deception, carried a hidden cargo that would soon make history. This dramatic interdiction marked the culmination of "Operation Piano," a sophisticated multi-agency effort that would uncover Ireland's largest ever drug seizure: 2,253 kilograms (4,967 lb) of South American cocaine, with an estimated street value of approximately €157 million.