Dublin man accused of people trafficking

A young man has gone on trial for alleged people trafficking and holding a false document at Dublin Airport two years ago.

Declan Gaffney (aged 23) of Dorset Street, Dublin 1, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to facilitating illegal immigrants into Ireland on dates between December 20, 2006 and January 5, 2007 and holding a false letter at the airport on January 5, 2007.

Prosecution counsel, Ms Una Ní Raifeartaigh BL, told the jury in her opening address that it would not be dealing with "a big trafficking rig" but a "once-off event committed by one man on one particular day".

Detective Sergeant Ciaran Noone of the Garda National Immigration Bureau told Ms Ní Raifeartaigh that one of six Egyptian men handed him an employment confirmation letter from a shipping agency Triton Ltd shortly after they arrived off a Madrid flight that morning.

Det Sgt Noone said the letter listed several company contact numbers, including a mobile number for the "agent manager" Declan Gaffney, and detailed that the men were to board Greek cargo vessel MV Atlantic Star at Waterford Port the next day.

He said the men appeared to have valid passports and seaman's books but that he could get no answer when he tried ringing the company landline listed on the letter. He said he became suspicious and rang the Waterford Port Harbour Master, who informed him that the MV Atlantic Star was currently docked in Amsterdam, was not due in Waterford and was too big a vessel for Irish ports.

He told Ms Ní Raifeartaigh when he tried the mobile number for Declan Gaffney, it was answered "almost immediately" but the receiver could not inform him about the shipping company or the cargo vessel.

Det Sgt Noone agreed with defence counsel, Mr Sean Gillane BL, that his client confirmed over the phone that he was Declan Gaffney but that his only function was to collect the six Egyptians from the airport and bring them to a city centre hotel.

He agreed that the accused told him where he was in the airport and waited there to meet a garda colleague.

The trial continues before Judge Frank O'Donnell and a jury of seven women and five men.