Pole jailed for six years after pleading guilty to cocaine charge

A Polish man who was caught with €1.4m worth of cocaine hidden in his car in Cork city last year was today jailed for six years.

Eight carefully concealed cylinders were built in to a hidden compartment underneath the car that was driven from Holland to Cork city where drugs squad gardaí arrested the driver.

The accused, Marius Baran, 37, from Michalowskiego, Pila, Poland, was described as being something more than a courier as Judge Patrick J Moran imposed the jail sentence at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Detective Sergeant Lar O’Brien said Baran bought the Peugeot car in Germany, registered it in his wife’s name in Poland, drove it to Holland and collected it some time later when it was loaded with drugs.

He got a ferry to Newcastle, drove to Stranraer in Scotland, crossed to Belfast, and drove down to Cork where the car was parked in the multi-storey car park on Grand Parade.

The Gardaí received confidential information about the car and they kept it under surveillance at the car park for 24 hours until Baran and his wife, and one of his three children, sat into it on May

10, 2005 at 10.45 am.

The gardaí moved in and arrested Baran. No drugs were found on his person. His wife and child were allowed to return to Poland.

At Togher garda station, a hidden compartment was uncovered and eight cylinders of cocaine, weighing a total of 20 kilos were recovered.

Baran has been in custody since his arrest in May last year and the sentence was backdated to then.

Initially he told gardaí that he came to Ireland to arrange work for other non-nationals but he had no contacts here so his claim in this regard was never verified.

A jury was sworn in to hear the case last week but before it commenced he changed his plea to one of guilty to the charge of being in possession of 20 kilos of the illegal drug for the purpose of sale or supply to others at Grand Parade, Cork, on Tuesday, May 10, 2005.