A DUBLIN “drug baron” has been jailed for 18 years for transporting €6.2 million worth of heroin in his van.
Michael Byrne (36), of Old Tower, Clondalkin, was found guilty by a jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court of possessing 32kg of heroin in the Culmore Road area of Palmerstown on January 15th, 2008, following a six day trial last month.
Judge Frank O’Donnell described the father-of-five as a “drug baron” who was “no small fry in the [drugs] industry”.
He said Byrne gave a “calculated and well-rehearsed performance” in the witness box during his trial.
Judge O’Donnell said Byrne feigned concern for his children and described it as “a performance Laurence Olivier would have been proud of” but that it was perhaps “a tear too far” for the jury.
Judge O’Donnell said the sympathy he felt for Byrne’s family was tempered with the sympathy he had for the victims of drug abuse, for the mothers standing at the back of court “craning their necks” to see what sentence their drug-addicted son will get.
He said these “sons” may be as young as Byrne’s daughter and the elderly people they beat to “a pulp” to get money for drugs may be as old as Byrne’s parents.
He said there were no special circumstances in the case to exempt Byrne from the 10-year mandatory minimum sentence.
He said the fact the offence happened on the day of his brother’s funeral and the next day suggested Byrne took a “business as usual approach” to his activities.
Judge O’Donnell complimented the gardaí on their work in the case and said he was going to “send out a message” with the 18-year sentence.
Det Garda Gregory Sheehan told prosecuting counsel, Sean Gillane, that gardaí in possession of confidential information mounted a surveillance operation on Byrne’s home address as well as on the movements of a Volkswagen Caddy van and a Freelander 4x4 belonging to Byrne.
He said the 4x4 was observed leaving Byrne’s home with him, his wife and child inside.
They drove to the Culmore Road area where it linked up with the van driven by an unknown male. This male got into the 4x4 and the group drove to the airport where the male got out and headed for the departures area.
The 4x4 was driven to Ballyfermot and stopped at Byrne’s family home before driving back to Byrne’s house in Clondalkin. The 4x4 left again that evening and was driven to the Culmore Road area where it was driven into a cul-de-sac, did a U-turn and Byrne got out.
He got into the van and drove a circular lap of the estate before stopping outside a certain address. He went to the rear of the van and started taking out packages and putting them in a plastic bag.
He closed the door of the van and walked down a laneway. A detective drove his car past Byrne and Det Sheehan identified himself as an armed garda and told him to stop.
Byrne dropped the bags, making some of the packages fall out before running.
The detective drew his firearm and gave chase down the laneway and into a park.
He was found shortly afterwards hiding in a wooded area nearby and arrested.
Det Sheehan said €640 in cash was found on him as well as two plastic bags.
A search of the area yielded a large number of packages in the park and in the van with a total value of €6.2 million.
Byrne maintained he had been approached by a man who had asked to borrow his van and he had got a call to say it could be collected.
He said he met a man he did not know and agreed to give him a lift to the airport.
He said he later returned to the area to collect his van and as he drove it he heard a banging in the back.
He claimed this was the first time he saw the drugs in the van.
Byrne told gardaí he was attempting to get rid of the drugs when he was intercepted.
Byrne has 19 previous convictions including assaulting gardaí, larceny and handling stolen property.
Peter Finlay, defending, had handed in letters of reference into the court at the sentence hearing and said he had little else to add.