Convicted drug dealer agrees to forfeit €90,000 seized in raid

A CONVICTED drug dealer has agreed to forfeit €90,000 in cash seized during a drugs raid on his house last year.

The Criminal Assets Bureau was granted an order by the High Court allowing for the immediate transfer of the money to the State.

Patrick Landy, 46, from Elm Park, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, did not contest the order, which was granted under Section 4a of the Proceeds of Crime Act.

The Clonmel Drugs Unit confiscated the cash when they searched Landy’s house under warrant on January 21, 2007.

The unit found a small amount of cocaine and amphetamines in various parts of the house. The drugs were estimated to be worth between €5,000 and €6,000.

Gardaí found the cash in one of the bedrooms. They also found a small amount of drugs in the same room.

The drugs unit sent a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions. As a result Landy’s son, Martin, was charged with possession of drugs for sale or supply. The 22-year-old subsequently pleaded guilty at Clonmel District Court and received a two-month sentence.

After the DPP instructed that only Martin Landy be charged, the CAB became involved and secured an interim order from the High Court in July 2008 freezing the cash, which was still in the possession of gardaí.

Patrick Landy claimed the cash was his.

CAB officers were able to convince the High Court that the cash was, on the balance of probabilities, the proceeds of criminality.

CAB supplied an affidavit to the courts setting out the facts of the case. It said Patrick Landy had been recently convicted of sale and supply of drugs under Section 15 of the Drug Trafficking Act.

This referred to a dramatic incident in Cork city in March 2000, when Patrick Landy was involved in a high-speed chase with the local drugs unit, which ended when he crashed into a taxi, seriously injuring the taxi driver.

During a 13km chase, he rammed a Garda car twice and drove against the flow of traffic on a one-way street before crashing into a taxi.

The taxi driver broke his back in the smash.

At his trial, he pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis worth €62,000, as well as reckless driving involving a risk of death or serious injury to another, dangerous driving and damaging a Garda car.

In June 2002, the married father of seven was sentenced to five years in jail.

The CAB affidavit pointed out that drugs were found in his house during the raid and that drugs were found in the same room as the cash.

It said Patrick Landy had a number of convictions going back to 1980.

In recent days, the CAB applied for a final order confiscating the cash. Landy did not contest the application.

Judge Kevin Feeney granted the interlocutory order under section 4a of the Proceeds of Crime Act, allowing for the immediate transfer of the money to the exchequer.