Garda’s vigilance led to €25,000 drugs bust at M8

SAME CAR CAUGHT SPEEDING MONTHS BEFORE

THE vigilance of a North Cork garda led to the discovery of over €25,000 of drugs and the subsequent conviction of two men for drug dealing, a court has heard.

Garda Peter O’Loughlin of Fermoy Traffic Corps was on duty on the M8 at Corrin, Fermoy on November 30, 2017 when he noticed an Audi A8 being driven in an unusual manner, Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard.

Garda O’Loughlin recalled he had stopped the same car for speeding some months earlier so he followed it and indicated for it to stop and when he spoke to the driver, he got a strong smell of cannabis from the car. Gardaí searched the car and found over €23,000 worth of cannabis and over €3,000 worth of cocaine in the vehicle which gardaí believe were destined for distribution in the Cork market.

Det Sgt James O’Shea of Fermoy Garda Station told the court last week that there were three men in the car that was travelling in the direction of Cork city and while one man fled the scene, the other two were apprehended.

Among them was Polish national Krzysztof Kukla of Park Boulevard, Tyrellstown,

Dublin 15 who was a back seat passenger in the vehicle which was driven by another Polish national.

In court, Kukla pleaded guilty last week to possessing cannabis and cocaine for supply. Defence counsel, Siobhán Lankford SC put it to Det Sgt O’Shea that Kukla was not the main organiser of the drug trip, and he agreed, saying Kukla was the bagman and was on a lower rung of the operation than the organiser.

The court heard that the reason the case had taken over two years to hear was that after a short prison sentence for a minor offence, Kukla was sent back to Poland to serve a longer sentence for an unrelated matter.

Judge Helen Boyle sentenced Kukla to six years in jail but suspended the final two years on condition he would be of good behaviour upon his release and she backdated the sentence to November 29, 2019, when he went into custody.

Last November, Rafel Klubikiowski of No Fixed Abode was jailed for eight and a half years for his part in bringing the drugs to Cork in the car stopped as a result of Garda O’Loughlin’s vigilance.