A MAN who admitted renting a house to use as a “cocaine processing plant” was given a five-year prison sentence at Athlone Circuit Court yesterday.
Seán Callinan (23), of Pearse Park, Tullamore, Co Offaly, was “in way beyond his depth” when he became involved in the enterprise, according to defence counsel Martin Giblin SC.
Gardaí were alerted to the drug processing facility when a letting agent became suspicious about activity in the house at Meadowbrook, Willow Park, on May 4th, 2007, said Garda Michael Ryan.
Gardaí called to the house and discovered a rear window had been removed and the house contained industrial presses, liquidisers, mixing agents and masking tape.
Cocaine valued at €17,010 was found at a number of locations in the house.
“In the sitting room there was a large number of liquidisers on the floor and there were two industrial presses,” said Garda Ryan.
Although the house had been rented by the defendant under a false name, Callinan’s finger prints were discovered at 25 locations in the house.
The accused changed his plea and admitted having drugs for sale or supply during his trial before Judge Michael White at Mullingar Circuit Court on March 25th last.
Callinan, who has 22 previous convictions, is serving a three-year sentence for conspiracy to possess weapons, Garda Ryan said.
He was arrested along with another man during a sting operation in Cork. The pair were arrested less than three weeks before the discovery of the cocaine processing plant.
Garda Ryan told the court Callinan conspired to take possession of a large number of weapons, including two rocket launchers, five AKM assault rifles and assorted pistols.
Mr Giblin said his client had a limited role in the weapons case.
“Mr Callinan’s role was confined to coming into a hotel on the night and collect some firearms and take them away to be tested.”
He said a psychological report showed the defendant was an ideal candidate to be manipulated by more “cynical” people.
Mr Giblin said Callinan’s mother had died when he was young and his father reacted by “descending into an alcoholic daze”.
“Mr Callinan was effectively feral for a number of years without any supervision whatsoever,” he added.
Judge White described the processing plant in Meadowbrook as a “sophisticated operation”.
It was clear the defendant was “actively involved in the packaging and distribution of drugs”.
Taking the guilty plea into consideration, Judge White sentenced Callinan to five years in prison and refused leave to appeal.
The sentence was backdated to March 25th.