Ice-cream van owner caught with heroin worth €26k

A man who used to make his living selling whipped ice-cream to children from his van is facing a jail term after getting caught red-handed with more than €26,000 worth of heroin in a coffee jar.

Paul Collopy, aged 41, of Gordon Drive, Ennis, Co Clare, used to have two ice-cream vans on the road before he returned to the drugs scene and at Ennis Circuit Court, he pleaded guilty to the possession of €26,796 worth of heroin on November 22 last at Ballycoree, Ennis.

Collopy was found with the heroin contained in a coffee jar on a laneway at Ballycoree when under garda surveillance on the date.