Sentence adjourned in €1.65m cocaine case

Sentence on an unemployed Dublin man who smuggled cocaine valued at more than €1.65m into Ireland has been adjourned to next April at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Eugene Lynch (aged 34), of Cromcastle Close, Kilmore, pleaded guilty before Judge Donagh McDonagh to possession of 23.6 kilos of cocaine for sale or supply at his home on August 23, 2005.

More than 20 packages of the drug were discovered hidden in Lynch’s car by gardaí acting on confidential information.

Lynch told gardaí he had run up a drug debt of €3,000 and was threatened by his dealer. He was to be paid €10,000 for driving to London, collecting the cocaine and returning to Dublin. He was in the process of removing the packages from his car when gardai arrived at his home with a search warrant.

Detective Garda Jim McDermot of the National Drugs Unit told Mr Vincent Heneghan BL, prosecuting, that Lynch immediately co-operated with gardai. He has no previous convictions and lives with his partner and two children.

Det garda McDermot said Lynch had taken a ferry to Hollyhead where he was contacted and told to drive on to London. He man at a pre-arranged destination and his car was taken from him overnight. He stayed in a hotel in Enfield before driving back to Dublin.

Ms Isobel Kennedy SC, defending, said her client became involved in the offence because he was in fear and had been told that his house would be burned down. She said he had worked on a "need-to-know basis" and had "limited knowledge" of the individuals who had directed his activities.

Ms Kennedy said Lynch was not a "player" in the drugs scene and had been used by others. He told gardaí that if he had known the amount of drugs that were put into his car he would have left the vehicle in London, "I’m after making the biggest eejit of myself", he said.