'Walter Mitty-type' character jailed for 11 years over €8.4m of cocaine flown into Ireland

The judge voiced concerns about 'open corridor' airfields around the country and called for 'significant upgrading' of security and 24-hour monitoring and checks

The court heard that the Garda investigation arose from information received about a Cessna light aircraft used to bring controlled drugs into the jurisdiction. File photo: An Garda Siochana/PA

A "Walter Mitty-type" character, who played an "important logistical role" in smuggling €8.4m worth of cocaine to Ireland via an "open corridor" aerodrome in the midlands, has been jailed for 11 years.

Garda National Drugs & Organised Crime Bureau (GNDOCB) officers kept a Cessna single-engine aircraft, which flew from Dieppe in France, under surveillance when it landed at Abbeyshrule Aerodrome, Co Longford, on the evening of August 4, 2022.