Taxi driver to face sentence over €100,000 drug delivery

A TAXI driver delivered drugs worth more than €100,000 from a lock-up found to contain €3.5million worth of cocaine, ketamine and ecstasy hidden behind dried flowers, a court has heard.

Gardaí with confidential information saw Michael Smullen, 31, take two bags from a lock-up facility, drive a short distance and then hand them to another man.

Detective Garda Patrick Hearne said he and his colleagues arrested the men and discovered that the bags contained cannabis and cocaine worth more than €114,900.

Investigators later found 18.5kg of cocaine, along with heroin, ketamine, cannabis herb and resin and €51,000 of MDMA in the lock-up, behind boxes of dried flowers.

The total value of all of the drugs was €3,592,374.

Father-of-two Smullen, of Oak Park Avenue, Royal Oak, Santry, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two charges of possessing the drugs at St Joseph’s Avenue and St Columba’s Road Lower, Drumcondra, on December 20, 2017.

Detective Garda Hearne told Fiona McGowan BL, prosecuting, that the other man involved in taking the drugs from Smullen received a six-year sentence with two years suspended. The court heard this man was only charged with possessing the bags of cannabis and cocaine.

Michael O’Higgins SC, defending, submitted to Judge Elma Sheahan that his client’s cousin had been previously jailed for a drug offence. He said Smullen offered to take over his cousin’s debt to dealers and that this was called in during 2017. He said his client felt under pressure, which was why he got involved.

Mr O’Higgins submitted to Judge Sheahan that a psychologist report has deemed that Smullen had a tendency to take on other people’s problems. Detective Garda Hearne agreed with Mr O’Higgins that his client had not owned the drugs. Judge Sheahan remanded Smullen in custody pending sentence next week.