Polish man who smuggled €54k of cocaine sentenced to three years

A man who hid 66 pellets of cocaine internally in his body to smuggle them into Ireland has been jailed for three years.

Polish native Lukasz Zadroga, 29, was arrested at Dublin Airport when customs officer David Tanney noticed that he was repeatedly travelling from Madrid, Spain, and had no ties there.

Zadroga admitted that he had drugs hidden in his body and was taken to Beaumont hospital. He later passed 66 pellets of cocaine.

Zadroga, of no fixed abode here, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of drugs for sale or supply at Dublin Airport on February 19, 2013.

Garda Philip Murphy told Antonia Boyle BL, prosecuting, that the estimated market value of the drugs was €54,675.

Zadroga told gardai: "I didn't know it was worth so much. I know I did wrong. I am not a criminal. I was forced to do it. I did it for my family"

The court heard he admitted to gardaí that he had previously brought cocaine into the country by swallowing it and that he was relieved to have been arrested so that he could stop.

Judge Martin Nolan backdated the sentence of three years to February 2013 when Zadroga went into custody.

Dominic McGinn SC, defending, said his client came from a good family and carried out the offence because of a debt.

Gda Murphy agreed that his position in the world of drug trafficking is at the lower end. He also agreed that he had put himself at enormous personal risk by swallowing the drugs.