Hanz Pangahin crossed the Atlantic aboard the MV Royal as part of a transport cell carrying as much as 600kg of cocaine into Ireland. Messages recovered by Gardaí showed that he and two fellow Filipino seafarers each expected a payment equivalent to €138,558 if the operation succeeded. The cocaine reached the Irish coast, but the phones, the landing crew and the ship led investigators back through the entire chain.

up to €42mEstimated value of the entire cocaine shipment.
10½ yearsPangahin’s final prison sentence.
€1,040,256Nominal full-term prison-space benchmark.

A transport cell aboard the MV Royal

Pangahin, a Filipino national with maritime experience, was one of three seafarers recruited for the ocean leg of an international cocaine operation. The other members of the shipboard cell were Christopher Ampo and Feljon Lao. The court heard that the Maltese-flagged MV Royal docked in the Amazon region between 14 and 27 December 2024. During that period the three men loaded between 400kg and 600kg of cocaine, later valued at between €28 million and €42 million.

Those figures describe the entire shipment, not property or proceeds attributed personally to Pangahin. His individual criminal responsibility rests on his guilty plea to conspiracy, the evidence accepted by the Special Criminal Court and the final sentence imposed upon him.

Encrypted instructions and the payoff evidence

Garda analysis of encrypted phones showed that Pangahin, Ampo and Lao were each to receive Philippine pesos worth approximately €138,558 if the importation succeeded. A WhatsApp group connected the shipboard cell with a controller using the name “Emaar Boss”, a Finnish SIM card and a claimed base in Dubai. The controller issued instructions for the rendezvous with a separate landing cell travelling in a rigid inflatable boat.

The expected-payment figure is evidence about the alleged reward for Pangahin’s role. It is not the shipment value, a confiscation order, money proved to have been received or a public cost. It is therefore kept separate from both the €42 million upper valuation and the prison-space benchmark below.

The Irish handover and the trail back to the ship

The MV Royal anchored in the Shannon Estuary on 12 January 2025. A four-man landing cell travelled by rigid inflatable boat to collect the cocaine and brought it to Carrigaholt Pier in County Clare. Gardaí arrested the four men when they returned to Meenogahane Pier in north Kerry. Examination of their phones identified the MV Royal.

Revenue and Garda personnel boarded the cargo ship on 15 January. Officers found the cocaine in 24 bags secured in the forward section of the vessel and arrested Lao. Pangahin and Ampo were arrested two days later. Pangahin was then brought before Tralee District Court, charged and remanded in custody.

The guilty plea and 10½-year sentence

Pangahin pleaded guilty to conspiring with others, between 18 December 2024 and 15 January 2025 within and outside the State, to import controlled drugs worth more than €13,000. Final court reports identify the offence as contrary to section 71 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006, which makes a conspirator liable to be tried and punished as a principal offender.

At sentencing, the court heard that Pangahin accepted responsibility from an early stage and said, “I am guilty.” He apologised, expressed fear of an illegal drug lord and had no previous convictions. He was married, had two young children living with his parents and had been due for promotion in the maritime industry.

On 23 March 2026, Ms Justice Karen O’Connor sentenced Pangahin to 10½ years’ imprisonment. The court treated the guilty pleas as significant mitigation but found that all seven defendants had travelled to Ireland to participate in serious criminality and had been recruited for their skills. The judge described the conspiracy as a sophisticated, internationally directed cartel operation and stressed the need for a significant global and national deterrent.

A warning from two coordinated cells

The case shows how an international drug organisation can divide a single importation into specialised units. Pangahin’s cell handled the Atlantic transport. Four men based in Britain or Northern Ireland formed the landing cell. Both groups received instructions from controllers using pseudonyms and foreign SIM cards. The separation did not prevent Gardaí from joining the evidence after the landing crew’s phones exposed the ship.

This operation is distinct from the 2023 MV Matthew seizure covered elsewhere in the archive. The MV Royal conspiracy involved a different ship, defendants, alleged controllers, route, landing site and prosecution. Shared facts within this case—including the shipment value and investigative operation—must nevertheless be recorded once rather than multiplied across each of its seven defendants.

Chronology

  • 14–27 December 2024: The MV Royal docks in the Amazon region; Pangahin, Ampo and Lao load between 400kg and 600kg of cocaine.
  • 18 December 2024–15 January 2025: Period covered by Pangahin’s conspiracy guilty plea.
  • 6–12 January 2025: Members of the landing cell travel to Ireland and receive coordinates and instructions from remote controllers.
  • 12 January 2025: The landing cell collects the cocaine from the ship and brings it ashore at Carrigaholt; Gardaí arrest the four men after their return to Meenogahane Pier.
  • 15 January 2025: Revenue and Garda personnel board the MV Royal, locate 24 bags of cocaine and arrest Lao.
  • 17 January 2025: Pangahin and Ampo are arrested aboard the vessel.
  • 20 January 2025: Pangahin appears at Tralee District Court charged with conspiracy and is remanded in custody.
  • 18 June 2025: The seven defendants are returned for trial before the Special Criminal Court.
  • By 19 January 2026: All seven have entered guilty pleas and the court begins detailed sentencing evidence.
  • 23 March 2026: Pangahin receives a final sentence of 10½ years.

The taxpayer-cost boundary

The Irish Prison Service reports that an available, staffed prison space cost an average of €99,072 in 2024, excluding capital expenditure. Multiplying that system-wide figure by Pangahin’s 10½-year sentence produces a €1,040,256 nominal full-term capacity benchmark.

This is not an invoice, audited marginal expenditure or a forecast of what his custody will actually cost. It holds one annual national average flat for 10½ years and does not account for inflation, future prison costs, time already spent on remand, remission, release or other sentence administration. Garda, Revenue, prosecution, court, interpretation and legal-aid costs are excluded because the reviewed public record does not allocate reliable amounts to Pangahin individually.

The shipment’s upper estimated value of €42 million is neither a taxpayer cost nor Pangahin’s personal asset. The €138,558 expected payment is likewise not a State cost and was not reported as money actually received. The case ledger should count only the conditional €1,040,256 custody benchmark.

Nationality and status limits

Reliable court reports identify Pangahin as a Filipino national and member of the MV Royal’s crew. Early charge reports spelled his surname Panaghin; later guilty-plea and final-sentence reports consistently use Pangahin, which this file treats as the authoritative spelling while preserving the variant for search and identification.

The reviewed sources do not establish that he was an Irish immigrant, resident, asylum applicant or refugee. They document his arrival as a seafarer aboard the cargo ship and his subsequent custody. No Irish residence permission, deportation order, post-sentence removal decision or later appeal outcome was located through 1 August 2026, so none is asserted here.

Questions for public accountability

  1. Will the State publish a final itemised cost for the MV Royal interdiction, investigation, prosecution and custody of all seven defendants?
  2. Were any assets or payments linked to Pangahin’s expected €138,558 reward identified, frozen or recovered?
  3. What port, crew-vetting and maritime-intelligence changes followed the discovery that cocaine was carried into the Shannon Estuary aboard a commercial vessel?
  4. How are agencies tracking the overseas controllers identified through the “Emaar Boss”, “Albert” and “Danny Greene” pseudonyms?
  5. Which authority will assess Pangahin’s legal status at the end of his sentence, and when will that process begin?

Sources

Record checked: 1 August 2026. Hanz Panaghin is preserved as an early reporting variant. The shipment value and expected reward are not taxpayer costs; only the conditional €1,040,256 prison-space benchmark is assigned to this individual file. No asylum, residence, deportation or unreported appellate outcome is asserted.