‘Our boy has made a huge mistake’
suspicious package they’d found. In a statement released to the Irish Daily Mail, Rachel, 46, said her son Joshua had made a ‘huge mistake’.
The mother of three and daughter-in-law of TV chef Darina Allen said in a statement: ‘We are making a statement in response to, and hopefully to alleviate, the frenzy of enquiry and speculation ongoing in relation to our son Joshua.
‘He has been arrested on suspicion of possession of drugs (marijuana) with intent to supply them to others. He has admitted his guilt immediately and co-operated fully with the gardaí.
‘A file has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions and when formally charged Joshua will be pleading guilty at the first opportunity.
‘We are absolutely devastated at this turn of events. Our son is 18 years old, has never been in trouble with the gardaí, and has made a huge mistake, which will have profound consequences for him.
‘We do not in any way condone his actions. In fact, we utterly condemn them, but it is not for us to condemn him. We must now try to look after our son and our family, the best way we can.’
Last Thursday evening, a property in the Shanagarry area of east Cork was searched by gardaí on foot of a warrant.
Joshua Allen was arrested at the scene and detained under section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996.
He was later released without charge and a file was sent to the DPP.
The seizure followed a Garda raid after a joint Garda-Revenue operation when a Customs & Excise officer at Portlaoise Mail Centre in Co. Laois became concerned about a parcel destined for a specific address in Cork.
The 1.5kg of cannabis herb was concealed in a parcel labelled as ‘clothing’, which originated in the US and was destined for an address in Cork.
In a recent interview, in June of this year, Rachel, who has headed up cookery shows on RTÉ and the BBC, revealed that ‘Josh’ had moved out of the family home and was now living locally and working on the Allen family’s farm.
The celebrity chef has three children: Joshua, Lucca and Scarlett.
Speaking in 2015, Rachel, who has taught courses at Ballymaloe Cookery School, and who has published an array of cookbooks, revealed that a then 16-year-old Joshua was dyslexic and not very academic. She said she wouldn’t be pushing him to return to school after he took a year out.
She said: ‘Joshua is very artistic, and has taken transition year out of school, and I don’t know whether he’ll even go back to do his Leaving Certificate. People may disagree with me, but as his mother, I’m not sure formal education is for him.
‘Josh is dyslexic and very creative. We’re constantly there for him and keeping an eye on him. We want him to be happy and busy. And right now, he is.
‘He’s done a tractor-and-loader course, and an outboard motor course. Once he’s putting in a day’s work and he’s happy and learning, we’re happy enough.’
A Garda spokesman told the Mail: ‘Gardaí arrested a man in the Shanagarry area of east Cork.
‘Gardaí from the Divisional Drugs Unit in Anglesea Street, the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau and Revenues Customs Service from the South West Region, carried out a joint operation in the Shanagarry area of Co. Cork on August 30, 2018.
‘During the course of this operation, Revenue Customs officers seized approximately 1.5kg of suspected herbal cannabis with an estimated street value of €30,000.’
A senior security source told the Mail: ‘Investigations of this nature are ongoing on a weekly basis. Gardaí work closely with Revenue officers to detect drug packages which are being sent through the post. We closely monitor suspicious packages and if they are found to be of a suspicious nature then the gardaí are called in to investigate. Criminals are increasingly trying to use Ireland’s postal service to traffic drugs into the country.
‘The internet has become an increasingly popular way for people to buy drugs over the past three years, resulting in a spike in postal centre finds.
‘The vast majority of seizures involve herbal cannabis being imported into Ireland from Spain, South Africa and the USA.’
The Mail understands that many parcels are addressed to vacant properties with an external mailbox that can be monitored from a distance.
‘Spike in postal centre finds’