Drugs found in rucksack after Cork man who set off fireworks fled from gardaí

Bag contained €15,000 worth of cocaine and cannabis

As well as the drugs in the bag, there was a cocaine mixing agent and €2,100 in cash which the defendant later accepted was the proceeds of his drug-related activities.

 A Cobh man setting off fireworks at Halloween attracted the attention of gardaí causing him to flee the scene and leaving his rucksack behind. The rucksack was later found to contain €15,000 worth of cocaine and cannabis.

 Patrick Tobin, aged 40, of 179 Comeragh Park, The Glen, Cork, faced sentencing at Cork Circuit Criminal Court for having cocaine worth over €10,000 and €5,000 worth of cannabis for sale or supply in that rucksack.

“It was Halloween night and well attracting attention to himself by setting off fireworks which were illegal. He was well oiled and he tried to get away by climbing over a wall. He had a chaotic-type life,” defence senior counsel Donal O’Sullivan said at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

Garda Peter Moran testified that on October 31, 2022, his attention was drawn to the actions of the accused man at Russell Heights in Cobh, County Cork.

“He was acting suspiciously. He was setting off fireworks and trying to hide behind an ESB transformer box. He then fled from the scene. I inspected the rucksack he left behind. He climbed over a wall to make good his escape,” Garda Moran said.

Patrick Tobin did not get far before he was arrested and taken to Cobh garda station.

As well as the drugs in the bag, there was a cocaine mixing agent and €2,100 in cash which the defendant later accepted was the proceeds of his drug-related activities.

He claimed that he was dealing drugs but only holding on to the larger stash for an unnamed third party.

Garda Moran accepted that the accused was cooperative and freely admitted that he had a long-term addiction to substances that got him involved in the crimes that resulted in him being before the court.

Mr O’Sullivan said the defendant hopes to get to into Coolmine treatment centre which would be a benefit to himself and everyone else around him.

Judge Helen Boyle agreed to adjourn sentencing until the February sessions of Cork Circuit Criminal Court.

However, she warned that the accused man should know that with four previous drug-dealing convictions, “there is a certain reality to what is going to happen here”.