TWO MEN have been sentenced at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 12 and 14 years of imprisonment for “overseeing the safe transfer and distribution onwards” of drugs from a cache valued at over €2 million.
The cannabis resin was found by gardaí in 14 boxes split between a Ford Transit van and an Opel Astra car in Browns Barn public house car park. The two men were arrested nearby.
William Hynes (43), of Park Close, Dunshaughlin, Co Meath, and John Mangan (41), of Whitestown Green, Blanchardstown, were found guilty following a seven-day trial last month of conspiring with others to possess cannabis resin and conspiring with others to possess the drug for sale or supply on July 31st, 2006.
Judge Patrick McCartan imposed a 12-year sentence on Hynes and a 14-year sentence on Mangan. Mangan was on bail for a previous drug offence at the time and will begin the term when his current sentence ends.
Judge McCartan noted both men were “deeply committed and involved in the drugs trade”. A co-accused, Darren Hamilton (24), was given a nine-year sentence with the last 18 months suspended by Judge Katherine Delahunt at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on July 31st, 2009, for his part in this operation. Hamilton, of Kippure Park, Finglas, had pleaded guilty to possession of drugs for sale or supply at Browns Barn on July 31st, 2006.
Mangan is serving a 14-year sentence imposed in May 2008 for possession of cannabis resin valued at €341,787 for sale or supply on February 4th, 2006, in Drumcondra, and for possession of a firearm, which he claimed was for his own protection, in the Comet pub, Santry, on August 24th, 2007. The final four years were suspended.
Hynes was jailed for 6½ years on February 7th, 2000, after he pleaded guilty to possession of 210kg of cannabis with intent to supply on April 5th, 1998.
Judge McCartan said the men were “involved in overseeing the safe transfer and distribution of drugs onwards”. He commended the Garda operation, and said the quantity of drugs illustrated the scale of the State’s drug problem.
Det Garda John McMonagle told Eanna Mulloy (with Paul Carroll), prosecuting, that 354kg of resin in 14 vacuum-packed boxes, with a street value of €2.5 million, were unloaded from an articulated truck at Baldonnel industrial estate and loaded into the white Ford Transit van.
Det Garda McMonagle said a green Citroen C5 driven by Hynes, with Mangan as a passenger, travelled to Clonee where Mangan got into an Opel Astra. The two cars then travelled in convoy to Browns Barn, where Mangan left the Opel Astra unlocked in the car park.
Gardaí observed the green Citroen C5, which remained making loops of the roundabouts and flyover. Det Garda McMonagle said Hamilton drove the Transit van to the Browns Barn car park and parked it beside the Opel Astra. He transferred four boxes containing 81kg of cannabis to the back seat of the Opel Astra.
Gardaí arrested Hamilton as he drove from the scene, and arrested Hynes and Mangan nearby.
Det Garda McMonagle said Mangan had 26 previous convictions, and Hynes had eight.