Former bus driver remanded in custody for cocaine possession

A former Dublin Bus employee who was arrested by gardaí while driving a bus after they found over €400,000 worth of cocaine at his home has been remanded in custody pending sentence by Judge Tony Hunt.

Darren Quinn (aged 37), formerly of Bannow Road, Cabra, and with an address at Griffith Drive, Finglas East, had no previous convictions at the time but a European arrest warrant was issued after he failed to appear for his sentence hearing having fled to Spain.

He was arrested by gardaí at Dublin Airport some time later on his way back into Ireland and was found in possession of a false passport.

Quinn pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of the drugs worth €418,215 at his then Cabra home on January 8, 2005.

Detective Garda Donal Tully told Ms Karen O’Connor BL, prosecuting that Quinn was fully co-operative with gardai and admitted that he agreed to hold the drugs for €200 "out of greed" because he thought the money would come in handy for Christmas.

He said he got a phone call to deliver some of the drugs to a pub for an "additional payment" and he agreed to do so because he was "interested in an extra few quid".

Gardaí arrested him while he was at work after they found the drugs in his home under the stairs.

Det. Garda Tully agreed with Ms Isobel Kennedy (with Ms Fiona Murphy BL), defending, that her client lost his job with Dublin Bus as a result. He accepted that Quinn’s marriage has also since broken down but that he now has a new partner.

Det. Gda Tully further accepted that Quinn could be described as "a small cog in this particular operation" and it was effectively a "once-off" for him.

He agreed that Quinn told gardaí he was sorry for his involvement and he just wished he had never done it. He never recieved the €200 he was promised.

Judge Hunt said that the "big wheels in these operations" rely on people like Mr Quinn and added that it was astonishing that he got involved in this for only €200.

He described it as an unusual case and said that based on the evidence he had heard it was unlikely that a person like Quinn would have come before the courts. The case was adjourned to next February and Judge Hunt ordered a probation report for that date.