Man jailed for transporting heroin worth almost €2m

A Dublin man has received 12 years in prison sentences after being caught transporting almost €2m worth of heroin last year.

Stephen McElroy (aged 24) received a 10-year sentence from Judge Katherine Delahunt for transporting the heroin cache which will be served consecutively to a two-year sentence for a previous drugs offence which was reactivated today.

The two year sentence had initially been suspended in full when it was imposed in 2008.

McElroy, of Bayside Crescent, Sutton, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of the stash of heroin for sale or supply in a van outside his home on March 29, 2009.

Judge Delahunt ordered the forfeiture to the State of €13,040 in cash also found by gardaí.

Judge Delahunt took into account his efforts at rehabilitation and set a sentence review date in six years time.

Detective Garda Michael Ormonde told Mr Pieter Le Vert BL, prosecuting, that gardaí in receipt of certain information arrested McElroy after observing him pull a van up outside his house. They discovered heroin with a street value of €1,893,600 in packages inside the van.

McElroy told gardaí he had been asked to pick up the packages and was to receive €5,000. He said he thought it might be “money, guns or drugs” and was “in fear of his life.”

He said he had been given a phone on which he received a call and was asked to drive to Howth where the packages were given to him and on his return he was arrested. He told gardaí he was tight for money and refused to give gardaí any names.

McElroy has 11 previous convictions for offences including assault, endangerment and misuse of drugs.

Det Gda Ormonde agreed with Mr Sean Gillane SC, defending, that McElroy came from a good family and he had brought shame upon them. He agreed McElroy had lied when he told gardaí he did not have a drug problem.

Mr Gillane said McElroy, a father of two, had been using his time in custody wisely pursuing educational courses which he hopes to continue on his release and his family are working with him.

He said McElroy’s role was one of transportation and asked the court to be as lenient as possible.