The €440m cocaine trial in Cork heard today that the first coastguard officer at the scene suspected it was a drugs drop gone wrong.

THE soaking-wet man who knocked on the door of a farmhouse in west Cork looking for help on the morning that €440 million worth of cocaine was found floating in choppy waters told the farmer who helped him not to alert the rescue services.

The man who emerged from the sea in West Cork on the morning that €440m worth of cocaine was found floating in choppy waters was given assistance at a local farmhouse and told the farmer there was no need to alert the rescue services - a judge and jury was told today.