Alleged logistics man refused bail in €32.8m crystal meth haul case
A MAN charged over the country’s largest-ever crystal meth seizure has been denied bail despite his father’s offer to sell the family home and put up €200,000.
James Leen, 41, faces charges of drug importation at Cork Port, Ringaskiddy, on October 16, 2023 – of methylamphetamine, known as crystal meth – and possession of the drug worth €13,000 or more at Ballyseedy Garden Centre in Tralee, Co. Kerry, between October 27, 2023 and mid-February 2024.
The estimated street value of the haul is €32.8million. Father-of-three Mr Leen, of Pilgrim Hill, Kilmorna, Listowel, Co. Kerry, and his co-accused, businessman Nathan McDonnell, were denied District Court bail in February, and Mr McDonnell, 44, was subsequently refused High Court bail.
Mr Leen brought his fresh application before Judge Mary Ellen Ring in the High
Court in Cloverhill yesterday.
However, the alleged ‘logistics figure’ was refused bail after the judge held that he was a flight risk.
The judge, when given a list of countries the accused had visited in recent years, described it as a ‘conundrum’ that a man on legal aid could travel so much.
Detective Sergeant Ernie Henderson objected to bail. He said that on February 15, based on information from the Kerry Divisional Drugs Unit, customs officers at Cork Port examined a container.
‘Gardaí can confirm the container contained a purported magnetic separator machine destined for Australia,’ he said, adding that it had ‘sophisticated concealment’ which was purposely built for the drugs, and that the machine was not operative. It contained 543kg of crystal meth, the court heard.
The bail application heard that gardaí established this shipment travelled to Ireland from Mexico and arrived at Cork Port on October 16. Det. Sgt Henderson said it was believed Mr Leen was the logistics figure in the importation and that he allegedly liaised with different figures across the globe. It was claimed a firm and its named CEO, now deceased, but who was code-named ‘Grandma’, paid €40,000 for the machine.
The bail hearing was told that Mr McDonnell, of Ballyseedy Garden Centre, paid the €20,000 shipping charges.
Det. Sgt Henderson said the value of the drugs in Ireland was €32.8million but ‘substantially more’ in Australia.
Further serious charges are to be considered, the court heard.
The court also heard there was CCTV footage of Mr McDonnell loading the machine into a container at the garden centre and giving Mr Leen documents from a shipping company.
The offences, on conviction, carry a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years and a maximum life sentence. Det. Sgt Henderson said Mr Leen spent a large amount of time out of Ireland and went to various countries, including Colombia, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil and the Netherlands.
Defence counsel Ronan Prendergast told the court he was instructed that his client had been setting up a travel app that was about to ‘go live’. He said Mr Leen, who appeared via video link, would obey conditions.
Mr Prendergast said his client’s father, who watched from the public gallery, had instructed the defence that he would put his home on the market to raise €200,000 bail for his son.
Refusing the application, Judge Ring said the accused enjoyed the presumption of innocence, but held that the evidence supported the contention he would not attend his trial if released.
‘Sophisticated concealment’
Further charges ‘to be considered’