A man who was ordered by a Dublin drugs gang to carry £400,000 worth of cannabis in his car has been jailed for three years by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The 40 kg was part of a £3 million drugs haul. Shane Mulvenna (23), single and unemployed, of St Mary's Road, Ballsbridge, pleaded guilty to having the cannabis resin on November 13th, 1997, for sale and supply. He was a chronic heroin addict at the time.
Det Garda Ambrose Whitty told Mr Padraig Dwyer, prosecuting, that Mulvenna was ordered to collect the cannabis and meet two gang members who were on a motorbike outside the Esso Service Station on Dorset Street. When he met them he was told to drive to a pub in Tallaght.
At the pub he was ordered to leave the car keys in the ignition and wait inside the pub. The men drove to a housing estate in Pineview, Tallaght, to exchange the cannabis in Mulvenna's car for "good quality" cannabis. Garda Whitty said the men were intercepted at Pineview by gardai from the National Drugs Unit who were raiding the house.
A total of 300 kgs of cannabis resin was seized with a street value of £3 million.
He said four other people who were employed at the house to unpack the drugs have since pleaded guilty and another man has left the jurisdiction. An investigation was currently under way into the gang leaders.
Garda Whitty said when the two men did not return with his car, Mulvenna went home knowing something was wrong. He went to Irishtown Gardai station the next day and reported the car stolen. Two days later he was arrested.
Mulvenna was paid £1,000 per load on an "on the job" basis and was a very small cog in a very large wheel of distribution.
Mr Anthony Sammon SC, defending, asked Judge Elizabeth Dunne to take into consideration Mulvenna's involvement had occurred because he was afraid he would not be able to repay accumulated drug debts. He said Mulvenna had no previous convictions and asked the judge to take into consideration the lenient sentence given to Christopher Maguire, who was also involved in the crime. Judge Dunne said she would review the sentence on October 11th next.