€40k drugs courier avoids mandatory sentence

A six-year jail term was imposed yesterday on a man who claimed he only resorted to couriering €40,000 worth of drugs because of a debt he incurred for losing a stash of cocaine.

The man faced the possibility of a mandatory ten-year sentence for having €40,000 worth of cocaine, cannabis herb, and cannabis grass, at a house in Cork.

Peter Hanley, aged 33, of 13 Castlegreine Park, Boreenmanna Rd, Cork, previously pleaded guilty to having the drugs for the purpose of sale or supply at an address at Fitzgerald Place.