An alleged “principal” of an “elaborate” drug trafficking and cash laundering operation swam the River Liffey to evade arrest for a €2m drug seizure, a court docket has heard.
fficers from the Garda Nationwide Medication and Organised Crime Bureau searched a home and stopped vans in Palmerstown, Dublin 20, on June 22.
Six males have been arrested through the operation, and on Friday 5 appeared in court docket.
Right this moment gardai introduced the sixth man, Carl Powell, earlier than Decide Treasa Kelly at Dublin District Court docket.
Mr Powell (34) with an handle at Brocklebank Lane, Liverpool, England, was refused bail.
He’s charged with possessing hashish on the market or provide at a home on Mill Lane, Palmerstown, and having heroin, hashish, and cocaine at an residence in Dublin 2.
Decide Kelly heard he made no reply to the fees.
Detective Garda Gavin Curran objected to bail because of the seriousness of the case.
He maintained Mr Powell was a “principal half” of an organised crime group concerned in drug distribution and cash laundering.
He advised the bail listening to gardaí arrange a surveillance operation and allegedly noticed him carrying a black Beneath Armour sports activities bag right into a home at Mill Lane.
Two vans that left the property have been stopped and searched, ensuing within the restoration of 69 kilos of hashish price greater than €1.3m.
On the identical date, gardaí searched the home at about 6pm and seized 34 kilos of hashish, price €680,000.
The court docket heard a person tried to flee, and he entered and swam throughout the Liffey. He discarded the sports activities bag, which gardaí say they’ve recovered.
Moreover, they searched an residence in Dublin 2. It was allegedly used for an “elaborate cash laundering and trafficking operation”.
Detective Garda Curran stated €140,000 price of cocaine, heroin valued at €180,000 and two kilos of hashish have been recovered, together with vacuum-packed baggage of money totalling €864,000.
A “checklist”, ledger, weighing scales and a counterfeit cash detection machine have been found there, the court docket heard.
Detective Garda Curran alleged {that a} passport picture of the accused, a Ryanair ticket and a dentist’s receipt from Spain have been additionally discovered.
Mr Powell was arrested at a metropolis centre lodge simply after 1pm the next day. He had met up along with his companion.
Det Curran stated the accused, who has one eye, had a “distinctive look”.
On the time of arrest, he wore slippers and a lady’s coat, and “present in his possession was a moist passport”.
The officer stated the accused had “a number of scratches” believed to have been attributable to branches and undergrowth alongside the Liffey.
The detective additionally advised the court docket that the accused had lived in Spain for seven or eight years. He believed Mr Powell was a flight danger with entry to a “transnational community”.
Cross-examined by defence counsel Keith Spencer, instructed by solicitor Niall O’Connor, the detective agreed there was no forensic proof linking the accused to the city-centre residence or the alleged storehouse in Palmerstown.
Pleading for bail, counsel stated his consumer had been in Eire since December and had the presumption of innocence.
He was supported in court docket by his companion and helped take care of her kids.
Nevertheless, Decide Kelly denied him bail and remanded him in custody to seem at Cloverhill District Court docket on Friday. She famous gardaí supposed to object to authorized assist after the defence submitted the accused had restricted means.
His co-defendants confronted bail hearings on Friday and can seem once more at Cloverhill District Court docket subsequent week.
Gary Graham (47), from Patrick Heaney Crescent, Dublin 1, Barry Keane (30), of Coolamber Street, Rathcoole, Dublin, and Michael Murphy (32), of Woodstown Meadow, Knocklyon, Dublin, have been charged with possessing hashish on the market or provide at a home on Mill Lane in Palmerstown.
Industrial cleaner and father-of-one Gary Graham was refused bail. The court docket heard claims that he remained on the home when gardaí carried out the search and located a number of kilos of hashish “stacked towards a hedge”.
Detective Garda Ciaran Cummins alleged the home was a “hub” for organised crime.
Gary Graham “adamantly denied involvement within the matter” and didn’t try to flee.
Gardaí consented to bail with a variety of situations for the opposite 4 co-defendants earlier than the court docket on Friday.
Michael Campbell (31), from New Priory, Donaghmede, Dublin, was granted a €2,000 bond however required a €10,000 impartial surety permitted earlier than he may very well be launched. He’s accused of getting hashish price €600,000 on the M50.
Michael Murphy and Barry Keane have €5,000 bail bonds and want €5,000 impartial sureties.
Gary Graham’s cousin, Christopher Graham (41), from Matt Talbot Court docket, Dublin 1, was charged with possessing €760,000 price of hashish for provide in a van in Palmerstown.
They made no reply when charged.
Instructions from the DPP have to be obtained.
