A LARGE haul of drugs was recovered when a ear was stopped as it travelled the wrong way through Dublin's Temple Bar on January 6th last, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was told yesterday.
The driver, Charles Harris, a 32 year old disc jockey from Whaley Lane, Merseyside, Liverpool, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment by Judge Cyril Kelly after admitting responsibility for the ecstasy, cocaine and amphetamine (speed), worth almost £3,000, which was found in the car.
Sgt Finbarr Murphy said that the four men in the car were on their way to a party. When he asked Harris if he had taken any drugs, Harris agreed that he had and surrendered three ecstasy tablets from the band of his trousers.
After Harris was arrested gardai found a Smarties tube containing 82 ecstasy tablets with a street value of £12,000 on the floor of the car. Nine bags filled with £630 worth of cocaine were also found. A bag of poor quality amphetamine, worth about £300 was found in a briefcase. Weighing scales and plastic bags were also recovered from the car, Sgt Murphy told Mr Paul Coffey, prosecuting.
Told that Harris had been in custody since his arrest, Judge Kelly remarked that he was "carrying the can for the three other men in the car". He noted that jail was particularly hard on foreign nationals with no links to Ireland and ordered that Harris should be released on October 1st next.
Sgt Murphy told Mr Michael O'Higgins, defending, that none of the men in the car had much Irish currency on them, which indicated that no drugs had been sold.
The court was told that they had come to Ireland for the weekend as one of their friends had got work as a DJ in a night club here. At the time the ear was stopped at 5.45 a.m. they were on their way to a party.
The sergeant also agreed that there was an element of "joint possession" of the drugs and that this was certainly true in relation to the cocaine.
Mr O'Higgins said that his client had no previous convictions and told the court that his career and personal life had suffered as a result of his arrest.