Judge jails Bosnian man for ten years in cocaine case

A Bosnian man who stored a pistol and cocaine valued at over €150,000 in the ESB box of his family home because he feared "a bullet in the head" has been jailed for ten years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Zlatan Hodzic (aged 26), of Castleknock Way, Castleknock, pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine valued at €151,362, cannabis resin valued at €5,800 and possession of a pistol in suspicious circumstances at his home on January 10, 2007.

Judge Katherine Delahunt imposed the mandatory minimum sentence of ten years' imprisonment applicable under the legislation, and set a review date in five years time.

Sergeant Michael Kennedy told Ms Úna Ní Raifeartaigh BL, prosecuting, that gardaí acting on confidential information searched Hodzic’s family home where they found cocaine and a pistol in an ESB box.

They later found more cocaine, cannabis resin and a sum of cash in Hodzic’s bedroom.

Hodzic admitted responsibility for the drugs but told gardaí he did not own them. He said he was holding the drugs under duress for another person and said he had bought the pistol in Lanzarote.

Sgt Kennedy said Hodzic had 11 previous convictions for offences including assault, dangerous driving and violent behaviour.

Mr Erwan Mill-Arden SC, defending, said Hodzic had come to Ireland as a child with his parents but had been introduced to drugs in secondary school and soon ran up debts to drug dealer.

He said Hodzic had been "tackling his addiction in a positive way" and was giving clean urine samples since last June.

Mr Mill-Arden said his client had not come to garda attention since this incident and hoped to rehabilitate himself and become a good citizen.

He is in a relationship, has a child and has been working as a fork lift driver.

He said his client had been holding the drugs under threat and feared "a bullet in the head".