Jail for man caught transporting €2.75m worth of cannabis
A man who was caught transferring €2.75m worth of cannabis resin into a van before driving off has been jailed for seven and half years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
A European arrest warrant was issued for Alan Whelan (aged 30) when gardaí learned he had fled to England after failing to appear for a sentence date.
Whelan returned to Ireland before the warrant was executed and handed himself into gardaí in March this year. He had been remanded in custody pending sentence since that date.
Ms Caroline Biggs SC, defending, told Judge Martin Nolan that her client’s house was shot at in the aftermath of the offence which was his reason for leaving Ireland.
She said he had no way to pay back his drug debt which had arisen from his recreational addiction and had been told “to pay up or face the consequences”.
Whelan of Shelmalier Road, East Wall, pleaded guilty to possession of the drugs for sale or supply at Green Castle Parade, Coolock on March 13, 2006. He has eight previous convictions.
His co-accused David White (aged 47), the driver of the lorry Whelan took the drugs from, was sentenced to 10 years with two suspended by Judge Patricia Ryan in February 2007.
White, originally from Coolock, had been living in Marian Way, Liverpool. He had pleaded guilty to the same charge.
Detective Garda Darragh O’Toole told Mr Pieter Le Vert BL, prosecuting, that gardaí received confidential information that a lorry hauling a 40 foot trailer was carrying a large quantity of drugs.
The lorry was placed under surveillance when it stopped a short time later in Coolock Industrial Estate.
Whelan was spotted driving into the estate in a Ford Transit van before he and White transferred a number of suitcases from the trailer into the van. Both men drove off in their respective vehicles but were stopped a short time later by gardaí.
Gda O’Toole said the suitcases contained 392 kilogrammes of cannabis resin with a street value of €2,750,477.
Whelan admitted his involvement and claimed he was to get €500 to collect the suitcases, which he thought would contain approximately 50 kgs of the drug.
He told gardaí he never met the person who called him to arrange the collection nor did he know White or the owner of the van he drove that day. He said he was too afraid to name any of the other people involved.
Det Gda O’Toole agreed with Ms Biggs (with Mr Seamus Clarke BL), defending, that her client had not been on the garda radar at the time.
He agreed that Whelan told gardaí he had a €700-800 drug habit at the time and he got involved in this offence to repay a drug debt which had arisen from his own addiction.
He accepted that the drugs belonged to someone else and that Whelan would have been in possession of them for a short time had he transferred them successfully.
Det Gda O’Toole further accepted that Whelan was in genuine fear of the others involved.
Judge Nolan said there were exceptional circumstances in the case, including Whelan’s plea of guilty and co-operation with gardaí.
He said the testimonials handed in on Whelan’s behalf were impressive but said it was “a huge amount of cannabis resin” and Whelan knew he was going to be involved in transporting a significant amount of drugs.
