Spanish man pleads guilty to conspiring to smuggle large quantity of drugs into Ireland

Accused had been arrested in connection with the Tragumna drugs case in West Cork

56-year-old Juan Antonio Gallardo Barroso of no fixed address in Spain. File picture: Larry Cummins

A Spanish man has pleaded guilty to conspiring to smuggle a large quantity of drugs into Ireland.

At the non-jury, three-judge Special Criminal Court on Wednesday, Juan Antonio Gallardo Barroso, aged 56, of no fixed address in Spain, was arraigned on one count, that he did conspire with his co-accused to do an act in the State that constitutes a serious offence, namely the importation of controlled drugs in excess of €13,000 on dates between February 27 and March 14 2024, both dates inclusive, within the State. 

The offence is contrary to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977.

He pleaded guilty to the charge, with the matter put back by Ms Justice Karen O’Connor, presiding, to July 21 next for sentencing.

On that date, co-accused Mario Angel Del Rio Sanz, aged 45, of no fixed abode but from Spain; Anuar Rahui Chairi, aged 42, of Malaga in Spain; and Aleksandar Milic, aged 27, with an address in Belgrade in Serbia, are also listed for sentencing, having pleaded guilty to a similar charge of conspiring with others to import drugs.

A further six men are charged in connection with the case. 

They are Kiumaars Ghabiri, 52, with an address in Rotterdam in the Netherlands; Ali Ghasemi Mazidi, 50, with an address in the Netherlands; Sean Curran, 37, with an address at Carrickyheenan, Aughnacloy, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh; Raul Tabares Garcia, 48, of Cadiz in Spain; Pedro Pablo Ojeda Ortega, 36 of Cadiz; and Angel Serran Padilla, 40, of Malaga.

The men were arrested by gardaí in March last year during operations in the villages of Tragumna and Leap near Skibbereen in West Cork, where a jeep, camper van, articulated truck, and rigid inflatable boat were seized as part of the suspected drug smuggling operation.