Intelligence services in four countries have been aware of the activities of the Irish shipowners behind explosives ship Baltic Sky, currently being held in Greece, for several years, the maritime publication Lloyds List has reported.
Concerns centre on the known involvement of the late Pearse McNulty and his son Mr Pearse Christian McNulty with the former USSR republics in the Black Sea area.
Data on the movements of Baltic Sky and other vessels they operate has been supplied to British naval intelligence, which has shared the information with the US, Russia and Germany. According to Lloyd's List, the McNultys had extensive shipping dealings in the region in the 1990s.
Using a company named Farrigstar, Mr McNulty senior chartered several vessels from the state-owned Ukrainian company Black Sea Shipping Co, better known by its abbreviated title Blasco. One of the directors of Farrigstar was Vladimir Gruzansky, a former Blasco operative.
The company shipped around 36,000 tonnes of dry cargo a month from Black Sea ports for Turkey, Greece and UK.
Greek prosecutors questioned the crew of the ship laden with explosives yesterday, but its captain denied blame, saying he joined the vessel halfway through a six-week Mediterranean odyssey.
An investigative magistrate in Messolongi ruled Captain Anatoly Baltak and his six-man crew should be held in jail pending further investigation into charges of possession and transport of explosive materials. The magistrate set no trial date.
Mr Baltak earlier protested his innocence to reporters after being questioned by prosecutors with the crew of the Baltic Sky freighter, which was seized in Greece on Sunday with 680 tonnes of ammonium nitrate dynamite aboard. He said he hadn't heard from the Irishman since June 20th (two days before the ship's seizure).