A father of eight has been jailed for nine years for his role in moving over €2 million worth of cannabis.
Judge Martin Nolan said George Finglas (46), of North Circular Road, Dublin, was acting as a transporter and knew what he was doing.
On February 2nd, 2021, Revenue officials inspecting freight at Dublin Port using a sniffer dog discovered two pallets of cannabis herb covered over by portable gas heaters.
Gardaí from the National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau set up a surveillance operation and carried out a controlled delivery of the consignment to an industrial estate in west Dublin.
Detective Garda Jerome Twomey told Edward Doocey BL, prosecuting, that a person known as 'Suspect B' arrived at these premises. Finglas then arrived separately in a rented van and Suspect B began directing Finglas and another man to unload the pallets into the rental van.
Suspect B, who is still before the courts and cannot be identified at this point, drove off and Finglas drove separately to a commercial premises in Baldongan in Lusk, Co Dublin. The court heard this business had no involvement in the operation.
At this point, gardaí decided to move in and arrest Finglas.
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Officers found three mobile phones in the rented van, including an encrypted phone. The encrypted phone was open and unlocked and investigators were able to read some of the messages.
There were messages referring to “129 bits for collection” which Dt Gda Twomey said was a reference to the drugs. Another message to Finglas stated: “Another 13,000 wages for you this week mate.”
The cannabis herb weighed 128.45kg, with an estimated street value of €2.56 million.
After four interviews, Finglas gave gardaí a prepared statement in which he admitted moving the drugs and said he did so under direction. He said he was told to take the drugs to the second premises and strip them down.
He said he had built up a debt of €25,000 from a gambling problem and was in fear of the people to whom he owed the money.
Fiona Murphy SC, defending, told the court her client was not actually receiving any payment, but money was being knocked off the debt in exchange for his co-operation.
Last January, Finglas pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession for sale or supply of the drugs.
The court heard Finglas previously received suspended prison sentences for convictions of assault causing harm - two of which were in 2011 and a third in 2014. He has one conviction for drunk-driving from 2011.
Dt Gda Twomey agreed with Ms Murphy that her client was not previously on the “garda radar”.
Ms Murphy submitted to the court that her client was vulnerable because of his gambling problem adding that others had exploited this vulnerability.
She said he did not seek bail but wanted to go into custody pending sentence so his family members would not be placed in danger. She said he is a hard-working man, outlining his previous work with a homelessness charity.
She said her client was caught in a trap and had no option but to engage with the operation, adding he is very remorseful and has done a lot of work to rehabilitate since this offending.
Judge Nolan said that while he accepted Finglas had debts and was put under pressure, he said he knew what he was doing.
“While he was a transporter, he wasn't the most naive,” he said.
