Second hand clothes exporter charged after cannabis find

A 37 year old businessman living in north Cork has been remanded in custody after he was charged in connection with a €10,000 drugs seizure by gardai at a business premises in Cork last week.

Viktoras Andriejevas from Castleterry, Mitchelstown was charged with two offences following the seizure of a half a kilo of cannabis herb at Unit 5, Carrigaline Industrial Estate, Carrigaline on February 20.

Mr Andriejevas was charged with possession of cannabis herb contrary to Section 3 and possession of cannabis herb for sale or supply contrary to Section 15 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977.

Det Garda Eoin O’Toole gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution and told Cork District Court that Mr Andriejevas made no reply to the two charges when they were put to him after caution.

He said that gardai were objecting to bail because of the seriousness of the charges and the strength of the evidence against Mr Andriejevas, and the belief he would not stand trial if granted bail.

Cross-examined by Mr Andriejevas’s solicitor, Eddie Burke, Det Garda O’Toole said that drugs had been found in two vacuum packed packets in a warehouse premises rented to Mr Andriejevas in Carrigaline.

Each packet contained a quarter kilo of cannabis herb and they had been hidden in the premises but were located by a garda sniffer dog, while gardai also recovered a vacuum packing machine in the unit.

Det Garda O’Toole said that gardaí also recovered a number of mobile phones at the premises with messages which supported their belief that Mr Andriejevas was involved in the distribution of drugs.

And he added that gardaí also recovered a large quantity of cash on the premises, which Mr Andriejevas had been renting for the past five years and using as a base to ship second hand clothes to Lithuania.

He agreed with Mr Burke that when Mr Andriejevas was arrested, detained and questioned at Togher Garda Station, he denied any knowledge of the drugs and said he had nothing to do with them.

Mr Burke put it to Det Garda O’Toole that Mr Andriejevas would say that at least six other people had access to the warehouse but Det Garda O’Toole pointed out that Mr Andriejevas was the sole tenant.

Mr Burke suggested the vacuum packing machine may have been used to wrap clothes for export but Det Garda O’Toole said the clothing was packed in 150kg bundles, too large for the vacuum pack machine.

Mr Andriejevas took the stand and said that he had a business where he exported second hand clothing to Lithuania and Eastern Europe, which had a turnover of approximately €5,000 to €6,000 a week. Therefore, for gardaí to find €2,600 in his office safe, as gardai had done when they searched the premises, was not unusual and he did not consider it a large sum of cash given his business turnover.

He said that he had approximately 80-90 mobile phones on the premises as he was also involved in exporting phones but he only had two for his own use – one for domestic and one for international calls.

He said that he had been living in Ireland since 2006 and his two children were attending school here and he would not pose a flight risk if granted bail but promised to turn up when his case is listed for trial.

Judge Olann Kelleher said that in light of all that he had heard, he was refusing bail and he remanded Mr Andriejevas in custody to appear again at Cork District Court on March 1.