Two charged as €2m ‘drugs money’ found in car and loft

TWO MEN were each found with €1million in alleged drugs money during Garda raids at the weekend, Wexford District Court has heard.

The court heard that 29-year-old Glen Power was found with €505,000 in cash in a car park in a Wexford town industrial estate, and gardaí found another €500,000 in the attic of his house. Bernard Joyce, 44, was charged after gardaí raided a house in Foulksmills, Co. Wexford, and found 20 bundles of cash with a total value of €1million. Mr Joyce, of Ashbourne, Co. Meath, and Mr Power were remanded in custody after being charged before Judge Gerard Haughton at Wexford District Court yesterday. Detective Garda Fiona Connaughton said the charges arose from an intelligence operation carried out by the national drugs unit. She said gardaí were in possession of information relating to the cash.

Mr Power was observed in a car park at an industrial unit in Clonard, Wexford town, about to hand over €505,000 cash at 10.42am on Sunday.

He is charged with two counts of money laundering which carries a possible sentence of 14 years. Garda Connaughton said that following a search at Mr Power’s house, €500,000 in plastic bags was found in the attic. Defence solicitor Tracey Horan said Mr Power lived with his mother and was not a flight risk as he would hand over his passport, and that it was possible he did not know the amount of cash found in his car.

Ms Horan pointed out that Mr Power, of 10 Colpark Road, Ballyfermot, Dublin, has no previous convictions and suffers from a serious back injury. She added that he has a longterm partner, and that his partner and family were present in court.

Judge Haughton said he believed Mr Power might be a flight risk, and refused the application for bail for both men.

They will appear at court on Monday by video link from custody.