Corkman charged with possession of €140k of cocaine on M8 motorway

The court heard that the driver of the vehicle attempted to evade capture, before hitting a garda car and coming to a stop

Andrew Maher was arrested and charged on the M8 Motorway near Watergrasshill, Co. Cork. File photo: Denis Minihane

A 37-year-old man accused of carrying €140,000 worth of cocaine on the motorway from Dublin to Cork was arrested and brought before Cork District Court yesterday.

Detective Garda Eoin O’Toole arrested Andrew Maher and charged him with two counts in relation to the alleged seizure of two kilos of cocaine.

Maher was charged with possession of cocaine and having the drug for the purpose of sale or supply to others.

The date and place for the charges was the M8 at Watergrasshill on Monday, July 12.

Maher was represented in court by defence solicitor, Daithí Ó Donnabháin.

Det. Garda O’Toole said there was no objection to the accused being remanded on bail on conditions. Those conditions require him to be of good behaviour and commit no offences, to reside at his home address at 13 St. Declan’s Road, Gurranabraher, Cork, and to surrender his passport.

Judge Olann Kelleher asked what the street value of the drugs was and the detective replied that they were allegedly valued at €140,000.

On the application of Sergeant John Kelleher the case was adjourned until October 27 to allow time for directions to be obtained from the Director of Public Prosecutions.

It was reported that at around 11.25pm on Monday night, gardaí pulled a vehicle over on the M8 motorway as part of Operation Tara and that the driver of the vehicle attempted to evade capture, before hitting a garda car and coming to a stop. No injuries were reported.

It was also reported that the driver was seen throwing a plastic bag out of the vehicle before coming to a stop and that the bag was retrieved by gardaí who discovered €140,000 worth of suspected cocaine.