An Irish drugstrafficker has been jailed by judges in the Netherlands for his part in an international drugs ring.
David Long (38), from Co Dublinwas sentenced to five years' imprisonment at Haarlem Criminal Court near Amsterdam, convicted on four counts of possession and exporting hard drugs, including 11kg of ecstasy, 2kg of cocaine and 1kg of amphetamines.
The Irishman and Dutch drugs-traffickers are believed to have trafficked cocaine, cannabis, ecstasy and amphetamines worth millions of euro into Ireland over a number of years.
Lawyers for Long and his co-accused complained during their trial earlier this week that Dutch investigators had rested their case on reports from the Garda, which had made use of criminal infiltration at the Irish end of the drugs network.
It followed a five-month Irish and Dutch police operation involving telephone taps and round-the-clock surveillance of suspects.
Shortly before the Dutch arrests, senior members of the National Drugs Unit came to the Netherlands.
The court heard that a shipment of 20,000 ecstasy tablets smuggled from Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport into Dublin Airport in April last year was also organised by Long and a Dutch man described as the ringleader. Dutch police had monitored phone calls, and surveillance had been placed on the gang.
Earlier this week the court heard that a Dutch drugs-trafficker, Menno Koning (29), helped by Long and accomplices in Ireland and the Netherlands, had established a long-running international drugs-trafficking ring.
Koning and Long were arrested by armed police at the Dutch man's home in Middenbeemster in north Holland where a pistol and quantities of hard drugs were seized. In a lock-up garage rented by Koning, further supplies of drugs intended for Ireland, including 60,000 ecstasy pills and 19kg of amphetamines, were discovered on March 2nd last year.
Koning and Long were well known to Irish and Dutch drugs squad officers as frequent visitors to Ireland, securing drugs deals and establishing contacts with leading Irish drugs barons over a long period.
Koning received an eight-year jail term, considered severe by lenient Dutch sentencing standards.