The alleged Irish drugs baron and millionaire crime boss, Mr George Mitchell, has been returned for trial here charged with a £5 million computer supplies robbery from a lorry in the Netherlands. A second Irishman, the lorry driver, Mr Thomas Massey, a former Co Meath hurling star, from Hill of Down, between Enfield and Trim, will also go on trial here on June 12th, together with three Dutch nationals.
Both Irishmen have been in custody in separate high-security Dutch jails since their arrest. Acting on a request from the gardai, Dutch police tailed the truck. It had earlier travelled through England after leaving the Hewlett Packard factory in Leixlip. Mr Mitchell (47), from Ballyfermot, and five others were held as the lorry was being unloaded at a deserted warehouse near Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. Their arrests came as a result of Operation Wedgwood - a longrunning Garda investigation to combat a wave of multi-million pound computer raids by a criminal ring active in Ireland, Britain and on the Continent.
Garda sources have said Mr Mitchell was worth more than £10 million when he fled Ireland two years ago. He had been staying at a luxury apartment in The Hague. According to the Dutch Public Prosecutor's Office, Mr Mitchell is likely to be accused during his trial of being the mastermind behind the plot to steal the £5 million load of computer parts. A further charge being prepared against Mr Massey accuses him under Dutch embezzlement laws of allowing a loaded lorry to be stolen. The two Irishmen were brought before a closed session of Harlem's District Court yesterday. Judges remanded them in continuing custody for 30 days and fixed their trial for June 12th.
If convicted, they face a maximum sentence of six years' imprisonment. But a Dutch legal source predicted that given the circumstances - it was a first offence in the Netherlands, no drugs or arms were involved - they would most likely receive between one or two years at most.