Jail for man who swallowed 39 condoms filled with cocaine

A man who swallowed 39 condoms filled with liquid cocaine to smuggle the drugs into Ireland from Brazil has been jailed for four years.

Bolivian national Parada Hermen Arteaga (65) later told gardaí he had met "a guy" on the street and agreed to transport the drugs to get cash to help out his family. He was brought to Beaumont Hospital to pass the drugs because of fears for his safety.

The condoms contained 1.28kg of cocaine with a street value of €90,639.

Arteaga, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to importation of cocaine at Dublin airport on March 26th, 2014. He has no previous convictions either here or in Bolivia.

Judge Martin Nolan said "there was a degree of desperation" on Arteaga's part and he was on the "very lowest rung of this transportation system". He sentenced him to four years in prison, which he backdated to March 2014.

Garda Kevin Nolan told Gerardine Small, prosecuting, that Arteaga was stopped by custom officers using routine passenger profiling after coming off a flight from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

He said he was a retired petrol engineer and initially claimed he had come to Ireland as a tourist. He then admitted he had swallowed the drugs and was taken to hospital.

Arteaga later told gardaí he was to go to a hotel after leaving the airport and ring a contact in Bolivia for further instructions.

Garda Nolan agreed with Caroline Biggs SC, defending, her client was a drug mule who “had put both his health and life at risk to transport these drugs”. He accepted he was fully co-operative and had pleaded guilty at an early stage.

Ms Biggs said her client was a on a state pension in Bolivia and was financially responsible for his mother who was in poor health. He had “engaged in this act” to get money to help her out.

Counsel told Judge Nolan that Arteaga had made a “poor decision” but has been doing well in custody since his remand there.