Police swoop netted £400k in drug cash and luxury watches, court told
Judge defers sentencing gun-wielding ‘dipsomaniacs’
than £400,000 in cash seized from a lorry outside Armagh is allegedly linked to a crime gang supplying drugs across Northern Ireland, the High Court has heard.
A police surveillance operation led to the money being recovered, together with luxury watches in follow-up searches at one suspect’s home, a judge was told.
Prosecutors claimed 31-yearold Conor Toal acted as a “conduit” for a still unidentified senior gang member referred to only as “H.” AN alcoholic couple described in court as ‘crazy dipsomaniacs’ have been spared immediate custody after they showed off a sawn-off shotgun they found in a rubbish bin to teenagers.
Instead, a judge told Simon Frederick Thomas Larmour and Tatjana Glusecenko that he was going to defer sentencing for six months to await a fresh probation report.
Yesterday, Judge Gordon Kerr QC told the pair: “You both must
Details emerged as Toal, of Oakridge in Armagh city, was refused bail on charges of possessing and transferring criminal property, along with entering into an arrangement to acquire criminal property.
He was arrested after police stopped a lorry being driven by another man on the Portadown Road on August 17 last year.
Bundles of sterling and euros in excess of £410,000 were found in bags inside the vehicle’s cab.
Toal is believed to have passed the cash packages to his co-accused at a meeting outside a gospel hall minutes earlier, it was claimed. voluntarily comply with the statutory authorities in order to deal with your drinking problems. During the course of this deferral, there is to be no further offending and I must get good probation reports when you come back before me in six months. If not you will be going into immediate custody.”
In the case of Larmour (28), of Causeway Meadows in Lisburn, Co Antrim, the judge said he would receive three years in jail.
Tatjana Glusecenko (36), a Lithuanian national with an address at Verner Street, Belfast,
Crown lawyer Conor Maguire said: “The investigation involved surveillance of a group of individuals police say are part of an organised crime gang involved in the supply of controlled drugs throughout Northern Ireland.”
Toal was detained at his home, where further searches were said to have recovered another £4,690 in cash.
Four watches, including two made by Rolex, seized from the property have been valued at nearly £22,000 in total.
Mr Maguire also revealed that a device used to detect bugging equipment was found in Toal’s car. was told she would be sent to prison for two years.
Both were released on continuing bail to be sentenced on October 10.
The pair admitted possessing the firearm without a firearms certificate on July 2, 2015.
Prosecutor Mark Farrell had told Belfast Crown Court last month that a group of youths in a playground in Dover Street in the Shankill area were approached by the highly intoxicated pair.
From Glusecenko’s green handbag, Larmour produced
One of two mobile phones which were confiscated during the operation allegedly contains evidence of contact between the defendant, the lorry driver, and a person listed only as “H”, the court was told.
Toal claimed the money in his home was savings for a planned wedding, the court heard.
During interviews he told police that he agreed to hand over two bags in return for payment of around £100.
He claimed not to have known their contents and declined to say who asked him.
Opposing bail, Mr Maguire argued that he was more senMORE the shotgun. He offered to sell the teenagers the weapon and said he “wanted to shoot a taig”.
He then rewrapped the gun and put it back into the handbag. Mr Farrell said the pair were overpowered by “two gentlemen”, later described as ‘local community representatives’ who restrained them until police arrived.
Barrister Jon Connolly, for Larmour, told the court: “This is a crazy case with both of them dipsomaniacs.”
Although he acknowledged that the custody threshold had ior than the alleged courier role played by the lorry driver.
“Police would say this applicant is above that, and acts as a conduit for this person ‘H’, and there’s currently an investigation in respect of H’s involvement,” the barrister added.
Defence counsel insisted there was no evidence to back claims of a drugs link.
He argued that Toal should be released from custody due to delays in a case that may take another 12 months to complete.
Denying bail, however, Madam Justice McBride raised concerns about potential reoffending and interference with witnesses. been passed, Mr Connolly described the circumstances as just “incredible” and that Larmour was an alcoholic whose life was an “absolute mess” and who is currently on supervised licence for other offences until January 2018.
Defence barrister Stuart McTaggart, for Glusecenko, claimed she was “just in the wrong place at the wrong time”.
Mr McTaggart said there was no suggestion that Glusecenko, an alcoholic, threatened anyone, or made threats of violence, and had even told Larmour “to wise up”.