Cocaine ship pair 'totally expendable'

TWO men who were to take 2.25 tonnes of cocaine from the MV Matthew and bring it to the UK were so expendable that when their ship ran aground in rough seas, their employers deleted them from a group chat and planned to complete the operation without them, a court has heard.

- BY EOIN REYNOLDS

Detective Superintendent Keith Halley told the three-judge Special Criminal Court that Englishman Jamie Harbron, 31, of South Avenue, Billingham was on the “lowest rung” in the criminal enterprise to transport the €157million drugs haul across the Atlantic into Europe.

Harbron was hired as a deck hand on board the Castlemore, an Irish ship which was supposed to meet the MV Matthew and take the drugs to the UK, the detective said.