Man had almost €62k worth of cocaine in shoes

A NIGERIAN national has been sentenced to seven years in prison at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after he was caught carrying almost €62,000 worth of cocaine in the soles of his shoes.

Joel Kanu, aged 43, of Summer Street, Dublin 1, pleaded guilty to possession of the cocaine valued at €61,880 for sale or supply at Dublin Airport on December 14, 2009.

Judge Desmond Hogan sentenced Kanu to seven years and suspended the final two on condition he leave Ireland within 48 hours of his release from prison.

He accepted that Kanu had co-operated, pleaded guilty at an early stage and had saved the expense of a lengthy trial as a result.

“He was on the lower rung of the ladder, albeit in the context of a serious offence,” Judge Hogan said before saying that he had to take into account “the ravages that have been visited on this city and indeed country by drugs”.

Garda Sarah Ormonde told Ronan Kennedy BL, prosecuting, that Kanu was stopped by custom officers carrying a laptop bag and wearing a pair of “unusually large shoes”.

The shoes were found to contain 884 grammes of cocaine in the soles.