Man is jailed over €600k laundering of drugs cash

A MAN has been jailed for eight years over moneylaundering €600,000.

Paul Carew was caught transporting €191,160 in criminal proceeds in a van at Liffey Valley Shopping Centre, West Dublin, on August 27, 2016.

The cash was found in a concealed compartment.

Carew, 41, was described as “trusted” and “highly involved” in an illicit crime cartel.

Just two months earlier he had been arrested at a car wash after being seen placing a box containing €350,000 in cash into a van.

The father of two, from Saggart Court Ledge, Saggart, South Dublin, had previously been given a suspended sentence for possessing €68,000 in crime proceeds in 2014.

He pleaded guilty to all three offences.

Passing sentence, Judge Martin Nolan told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Carew had committed the “very serious offence” of money laundering for an organised crime cartel.

He said: “Money is what it’s all about to them. They have to get their money out of the country or move it where they can use it.

“People such as Carew are very useful to them and to some degree must be trusted.”

He added most of the cash was from drug dealing.

The judge remarked Carew led a “blameless life” until his first offence, noting he was doing well in prison and “could be reformed”.

He said although the headline sentence was nine or 10 years, he felt the appropriate term taking into account mitigating factors was eight years, backdated to June 24, 2017.