Man jailed for possessing over €1m worth of drugs

The "warehouse man" in a drugs racket has been jailed for 12 years for possessing over €1m worth of cannabis and cocaine in Dublin city centre two-years ago.

Detective Garda Daragh Daly accepted that Ronald McCann (aged 36) of Oliver Bond House, Dublin 8 was the warehouse man in charge of minding the drugs and passing them on in the €1.15m drugs operation.

Judge Desmond Hogan commented in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that "no matter what title you put on (McCann) as to job description, he had a very important role and was certainly not on the bottom rung of the (drugs trade) ladder"

McCann pleaded guilty to possessing around 46kg of cannabis worth €280,000 and several rounds of blank ammunition in the boot of his Nissan Colt company car and 400g of cocaine valued at €27, 440 and a further €800,040 in blocks weighing 120kg in a Nicholas Street flat on September 25, 2007.

Defence counsel, Mr Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC asked the judge to consider his client had only one previous conviction for a traffic offence in 1991, that he had pleaded guilty to the latest offence at an early date and to accept the father-of-three had a tendency to drug addiction because of a "traumatic" childhood in which he suffered abuse at a Galway Christian Brothers institution.

Mr Ó Lideadha (with Mr Kerida Naidoo BL) added that McCann was a chronic cocaine addict at the time of the offence but was now drug free.

Det Gda Daly told prosecution counsel, Mr Fergal Foley BL, that a garda surveillance team followed the former Ballyfermot car dealership employee from Oliver Bond House to a Nicholas Street flat where he was seen through a window.

The detective garda said his colleagues followed McCann back onto the road and arrested him on Ross Street, uncovering 40kg of cannabis in the boot of his Nissan and around five or six loose blocks of the drug and several blank cartridges under a panel by the spare wheel.

He said gardaí found 120kg of cannabis, 400g of cocaine, plastic bags and a weighing scales when they raided the Nicholas Street flat some time later.

Det Gda Daly agreed with Mr Ó Lideadha that his client was a "decent" man, a good father and a good employee who took responsibility for his offence but couldn’t name the drug dealers he worked with because it would endanger his life.

Judge Hogan also accepted McCann’s previous good character and suspended the final two years of his sentence directing that he undergo a drug treatment programme on his release if the probation services deemed him suitable.

He added: "I do take into account the absolute misery the release of €1.15m of drugs into the city of Dublin would do."