A man has been sentenced to four years in prison for money-laundering after he was caught with over €1.78 million in cash at Dublin Airport.
Chen Hsien Tsai (59) pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possessing the money in various denominations including euro, sterling and US dollars at Terminal One last March 7th.
Tsai, of no fixed abode in this country, has no previous convictions in Ireland or the UK, but the court heard that it’s unknown whether he has any in Taiwan, his country of origin.
Passing the sentence on Thursday, Judge Martin Nolan said if Tsai had been an English-speaking national, he would have received a sentence of five or six years.
Judge Nolan said an Irish prison can be a “very lonely place” for a foreign national and that he accepted that Tsai had been merely transporting the cash for third parties.
“It’s certainly a significant amount of cash,” said Judge Nolan, adding that Tsai was an “ideal man” for the task as he did not disclose any of his connections.
Garda Philip Murphy told John Moher BL, prosecuting, that a customs officer on duty at Dublin Airport saw a passenger acting in a suspicious and evasive manner on the day in question.
The man said he had arrived from Gatwick and that he had packed his two bags himself.
Customs officers noticed an anomaly when the bags were screened and when they unpacked them they found two envelopes, one sealed and one open.
The open envelope contained $3,000 US in $100 dollar bills.
The sealed envelope contained €500.
The bags also contained boxes of food and sanitary items, which when opened, were found to contain large quantities in different denominations including sterling, euros and US dollars.
Tsai was questioned via a Taiwanese interpreter and said he had been asked by a friend to bring the bags to Ireland as a favour.
He said he was not being paid and did not know how much cash was in the bags.
When gardaí asked him, “Do you know more and won’t tell us?” Tsai replied “yes”.
Tsai was arrested and said it was his second time in Ireland and that the first time was years ago.
However, a stamp on his passport revealed he had travelled into Rosslare Port days earlier.
Tsai said he “couldn’t remember” the name of the friend who had given him the bags or the name of the hotel in Cork where he was due to spend the night before returning to Gatwick the following day.
Garda Murphy told Judge Nolan all they know is that Tsai was transporting cash and that there was interest in the case from the UK authorities.
Gda Murphy agreed with Simon Matthews BL, defending, that Tsai was the “gopher” in the case and did not appear to be someone of means.
When Mr Matthews submitted that his client was “on the lower level” of the operation, Garda Murphy agreed but pointed out that someone had trusted Tsai with a large amount of money.
The court heard that Tsai told gardaí on arrest that he was afraid and scared of the situation he found himself in.
Counsel said Tsai is struggling in terms of loneliness in Cloverhill Prison and has no family ties in Ireland or the UK.
“He is incredibly isolated,” said Mr Matthews of his client, but added that Tsai was working as a cleaner in prison and studying for a certificate.
Mr Matthews said the court could infer that the €500 was belonging to Tsai and that this represented an incredibly large amount for him.
The sentence was backdated to March 7th last, when Tsai went into custody.
Judge Nolan said it was unlikely that Tsai would reoffend in the future.
