Sligo man, 49, charged after €8m drug seizure
A SLIGO man and another man appeared in court on Saturday evening on separate charges connected with the seizure by gardaí of drugs with an estimated street value of a total of €8.2m on Thursday last. Eugene Mulligan (49), with an address of Hillside Cottage, Carrigans Upper, Ballymote, appeared in custody at a special sitting of Naas District Court charged with possession of 60kg of cannabis for sale or supply after his car was stopped and searched by officers from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau at Kill Hill, Kill, Co. Kildare, on February 11. Another man, Eric Lawlor (46), of Cypress House, Bay Bush, Kildare, was charged with five counts, including possession of 314kg of cannabis and 11kg of cocaine for sale and supply and with money laundering at his home on February 11. Garda Donal Donoghue told the court that the charges arose from an intelligence-led operation in which Mr Mulligan was stopped and found with the drugs.
Garda Margarite Reilly gave evidence of the arrest of Eugene Mulligan. She said the alleged cannabis he was found with was packed into 35 vacuum packed bags found in five black plastic bags, with a street value of €1.2m.
Garda Reilly said that gardaí will allege that he had collected the cannabis herb from Eric Lawlor’s home, Cypress House.
The court heard that a subsequent search of the Cypress House property revealed 314kg of cannabis in wooden crates, some of which were marked with the names of different types of cannabis and with an estimated street value of €6.28m.
Also found was 11kg of suspected cocaine, valued at €770,000, in a hidden compartment in a van on the property, where €18,500 in cash was also seized.
Garda Donoghue said a mobile phone was found with software used to encrypt messages which he said he believed to be used by organised crime groups to conduct illegal activities.
He said Lawlor lived alone at the property and by his own admission had accumulated a drug debt and was addicted to cocaine on which he spent €1,400 a week.
Garda Donoghue told the court: “He wasn’t on the radar prior to this operation.”
He objected to him being granted bail on the grounds of the seriousness of the alleged offences.
In reply to Mr Lawlor’s lawyer, Garda Donoghue agreed the accused man had said: “I did what I had to do to keep everyone safe.”
In the case of Mr Mulligan, the court was he was “a trusted member of this organised crime group.” In the case of both men Judge Desmond Zaidan refused bail and remanded them to appear again in court by video link yesterday, Wednesday, where they were remanded further.