An Armagh man who admitted his role in an attempt to import cannabis herb worth £300,000 in 1994 has been given a six-year suspended sentence by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Sgt Patrick Geoghegan of Wexford said the operation was foiled after gardai got confidential information the cannabis would be imported in three boxes on a trailer which had been loaded near Paris.
Raymond Austin (32), single and self-employed, of Edward Street, Portadown, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import 45,648 grams of the drug on October 21st-24th, 1994, at Rosslare, was only "a small cog" in the operation. Sgt Geoghegan said Austin had no previous convictions and was unlikely to reoffend. He came from a very respectable family.
Judge Kieran O'Connor directed £5,000 cash bail lodged by Austin should be paid over to the Hospice for the Dying, Harold's Cross, when told by defence counsel Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC his client was prepared to let the money go as the court wished.
Judge O'Connor also ordered the name of Austin's co-accused, who had absconded from both jurisdictions in Ireland and was believed to be in Spain, should not be published for fear of prejudicing his trial if he is apprehended.
Prosecuting counsel Mr Fergal Foley noted the superior courts had ruled that such publicity did not obviate the possibility of a fair trial. He believed it would do no harm to name Austin's co-accused.
The court heard this man nearly died in a murder attempt on him and spent some 2 1/2 years in medical care for serious gunshot wounds.
Sgt Geoghegan told Mr Foley gardai found the trailer at Rosslare after getting information about a quantity of drugs being imported. They found three boxes with a huge amount of cannabis herb and removed two, leaving the third and having it watched.
Some hours later a tractor unit arrived and took away the trailer. Gardai followed and saw two men in a car with an Armagh registration contact the tractor unit driver some distance away. The men were Austin and his co-accused.
The second man saw the watching gardai and tried to get away in the car but two men were taken into custody. Austin said he believed they were collecting "blue movies" at Rosslare.
Sgt Geoghegan said the second man at first claimed he believed he was to collect fireworks, then said he was in Rosslare to get blue movies and finally claimed he was expected to collect both.
Mr Vaughan Buckley suggested his client could have been "an innocent party" in this offence. Austin had come to Dublin several times for hearings of the case from his home, where he lived with his elderly mother. Counsel suggested the case could be met with a stiff suspended sentence.
Judge O'Connor said testimonials handed in by Mr Vaughan Buckley were a tribute to Austin. Drugs offences of this magnitude normally carried a stiff sentence but in view of Sgt Geoghegan's "very fair evidence" he would suspend sentence.