A 39-year-old Bolivian national who had a brief involvement with a sophisticated drugs laboratory was jailed for eight years yesterday.
Juan Carlos Melgar Alba, a car spares salesman in Santa Cruz, had pleaded guilty in March to a single charge of having cocaine with a value in excess of €12,697 for sale or supply to others.
Yesterday's hearing in Kilkenny Circuit Criminal Court was told that 2,557 grams of cocaine with a street value of €255,700 had been seized in a raid on a flat in Kilkenny city on July 16th last year.
Details of a sophisticated cocaine laboratory were outlined to the court by Supt Gordon Ryan. He said the drug was impregnated into clothing which was then imported into Ireland.
Through an elaborate use of several chemicals including acids and ammonia, the cocaine was then extracted from the clothing.
A Garda source said this was the first operation of its kind discovered in Ireland, and it was believed only one similar laboratory was uncovered in Europe.
Mr Patrick Treacy, prosecuting, told the court that the extraction process at the flat in Greensbridge, Kilkenny, created a strong, powerful smell which was reported to the landlord and the Garda by people in another flat.
When gardaí arrived, they found a large quantity of cocaine at various stages of retrieval, several containers of chemicals and equipment associated with drugs.
Supt Ryan said Alba had no involvement with the importation of the impregnated clothing or with the purchase of the chemicals which had been bought before he arrived in the country.
But his fingerprints were found on equipment in the flat, and traces of cocaine were found in his clothing.
Alba arrived in Ireland on July 13th, 2003. He made contact with some people in Dublin, and on July 16th travelled to Kilkenny with two men. There were four other men at the flat.
When gardaí, led by Det Garda Mark Wall, raided the flat shortly after 11 p.m. there was nobody there.
But they got a description of Alba, whom they had observed nearby as they arrived, and they arrested him at Irishtown, a few streets away, shortly afterwards.
Everyone at the house, with the exception of Alba, escaped apprehension, the superintendent said, but he indicated that investigations were ongoing.