Dealer who caused overdose epidemic in Cork by selling 'highly dangerous' drug is jailed

Accused was responsible for 17 overdoses in the city by passing off nitazene as heroin, court heard

The batch of nitazene being sold by accused as heroin resulted in a national campaign by the Health Service Executive warning about the extreme danger posed by taking the drug. File picture: Leah Farrell/ RollingNews.ie

A Dublin drug dealer who brought a batch of drug deals to Cork because of "the heat" they were causing with overdoses in Dublin spent eight days selling the synthetic heroin substitute to Cork users — directly causing 17 overdoses.

On Wednesday at Cork Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Cormac Quinn sentenced 30-year-old Josh McGuinness to four years in jail.