Taxi driver jailed for having cocaine in boot of his car

A taxi driver who had an impeccable work record all his life has been jailed for four-and-a-half years after he admitted having over €200,000 worth of cocaine in the boot of his car.

Alan Rowe, aged 58, of Oxmantown Rd, Dublin 8 said he agreed to transport the cocaine to pay off a drugs debt.

He developed a cocaine habit in his forties after his marriage collapsed.

He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of the drugs for sale or supply at Collierstown, Co Meath, on January 22, 2009.

Garda Stephen O’Keefe told Sinéad McMullen, prosecuting, that gardaí followed Rowe in his car and stopped him.

During a search of the boot they found six blocks of cocaine wrapped in masking tape. The drugs had an estimated street value of €207,108.

Judge Martin Nolan was told that gardaí later found €58,000 worth of cannabis in his home and €6,000 worth of amphetamines at his business address on North King St, Dublin.

The court heard Rowe had worked hard all his life, starting off as a messenger boy for RTÉ and later setting up his own car parts business in Smithfield.

Garda O’Keefe told Michael O’Higgins, defending, that many of Rowe’s customers at his car parts business were gardaí.

Garda O’Keefe agreed that Rowe was remorseful and is at a low risk of re-offending.

After his arrest, Rowe fled to England and got a job as a night manager in a hotel before “the long arm of the law” caught up with him and he was extradited to Ireland.