Cocaine cargo ship must have made multiple drop-offs before Ireland, expert says

The former Navy Commander said the Naval Service was lucky Tuesday's operation went well as the navy could command just one ship

The MV Matthew berthed at Marino Point, Cork, on Wednesday. Eugene Ryan, former Navy Commander and founding member of international drug trafficking surveillance centre MAOC(N), said that the 190m bulk cargo vessel would hold significantly more drugs than the quantity seized so far, but arrived here largely empty. Picture: Dan Linehan

The cocaine cargo ship at the centre of Ireland's biggest ever drug bust may have been dropping drugs off at locations all the way up from the Mid-Atlantic to Ireland, a drug-trafficking surveillance expert has said.

Eugene Ryan, former Navy Commander and founding member of international drug trafficking surveillance centre MAOC(N), said that the 190m bulk cargo vessel would hold significantly more drugs than the quantity seized so far, but arrived here largely empty.