Gardaí smash international drug-smuggling operation

DRUGS squad gardaí working in co-operation with their British counterparts smashed a drug-smuggling operation where a gang consisting of criminals from England and South America were attempting to set up a new system for getting cocaine into Ireland.

The matter came to light in Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday as Roland Hutchinson, aged 24, of 42 Wadsworth Drive, Sheffield, was sentenced to five years in jail with the last two years of the sentence suspended by Judge Patrick J Moran.

Detective Sergeant Lar O’Brien said there was an ongoing investigation in Britain of a number of individuals and gardaí were tipped off by these investigators about Hutchinson who arrived in Dublin Port on November 24 last.

Hutchinson was kept under surveillance from the moment of his arrival and followed as he travelled to Cork where he hired a car at MacCurtain Street and drove to Skibbereen. There he went to a warehouse which had been hired by the gang. A concealed package of cocaine had been posted to the warehouse using a legitimate courier company who were an unwitting part in the plan. Hutchinson drove back to Cork city with two packets containing a total of e55,000 worth of cocaine.

Members of the drugs squad stopped him at Blarney Road, that day, November 25, 2008, and arrested him.

Det Sgt O’Brien described him as a small cog in a big wheel. Because of that and other mitigating factors the judge was prepared to impose less than the mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years.