Sighting of torchlight at shipping container led Cork gardaí to €21k cannabis haul

The court heard that when the shipping container was opened 'there was a smell of cannabis'. File photo: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

Torchlight by a shipping container on a dark evening prompted gardaí to take a closer look and ultimately the officers uncovered €21,000 worth of cannabis held inside the locked unit.

Garda James McCarthy testified at Cork Circuit Criminal Court at the sentencing hearing for 50-year-old Antanas Stravinskas of Bannóg, Dwyer’s Road, Midleton, County Cork.

On February 19, 2024, gardaí based in Midleton observed the defendant outside a compound in darkness at around 7pm.

“He was using a torch and accessing a shipping container. Gardaí waited until he went to exit the compound. When they did approach him he was extremely nervous. He said he was loading materials into a shed. 

"He denied being at a shipping container and said he had no contact with it. However, he then said that he did have a key for the shipping container in question and when he opened it there was a smell of cannabis. 

"There was a large bag of cannabis with a street value of €7,900. He was arrested at the scene and detained at Midleton garda station.” 

Warrants were obtained for a full search of the shipping container and a further €13,300 worth of the drug was found, making a total of over €21,000 worth of the drug.

Garda McCarthy said the defendant moved from Lithuania to Ireland 15 years ago. He was working in construction. He has not come to garda attention since this detection of drugs in February last year.

The Probation Service put him at a low risk of re-offending. Donal O’Sullivan, senior counsel, said after some hesitation the defendant did give gardaí the key and admitted that he had been accessing the container. 

“If he hadn’t done that, we would not be here and there would not have been any basis to get a warrant. There was no smell of cannabis until the container was opened.” 

Sentencing

Judge Dermot Sheehan imposed a total sentence of three years which was suspended in full.

Judge Dermot Sheehan said: “This was really good detective work. Officers detected him at a shipping container before seven at night. They spoke to him. He brought them into the compound. They found a large amount of cannabis. 

“He was fully co-operative. He is Lithuanian by background. The container was being used by him to store matters related to his building work. He has not come to adverse attention of gardaí since. 

“As happens, even though he is here 15 years he lives within a Lithuanian community here and his English is poor. He has the benefit of an interpreter here. He was smoking and using cannabis. He would bulk buy it.

“He no longer smokes. He has a stable family set-up and he continues to work. He has protective factors. He does not have any prolonged addiction issues. He has taken responsibility and expressed his regret telling his probation officer this was a salutary lesson for him.”