A MAN nicknamed "The Boxer", who is suspected of being one of Dublin's biggest heroin dealers, is due to appear in a London court today on a drugs charge.
Scotland Yard confirmed that Mr Thomas Mullen (27) is due to appear at Stratford Magistrate's Court. He is charged with conspiracy to supply heroin on or before June 12th, 1996.
When arrested in London last week Mr Mullen gave an address at Etchingham Court, Finchley, London. He told police his occupation was "storage controller".
Mr Mullen is understood to have been arrested after leaving a bank in London on Friday, with a substantial sum in cash. His movements had been monitored by gardai and the British police in a joint operation which has lasted several weeks.
Mr Mullen was publicly identified as "The Boxer" at a Dail Committee meeting last year by the Independent TD, Mr Tony Gregory. He is reputed to have become one of the main figures in the Dublin criminal underworld, before he left the city last year claiming he was about to be targeted by the IRA who believed he was a drug dealer.
Mr Mullen's home in Artane, north Dublin, was targeted late last year by anti-drugs protesters. In one of the biggest such demonstrations in the city about 500 people marched to the house, fired fireworks over it and left a small mock coffin marked "drugs kill" on the roof of the porch.
Mr Mullen was acquitted last July on charges of giving a false address and being in breach of the peace.
The case was dismissed after a conflict of evidence emerged. The Garda records and the records of Mr Mullen's solicitor did not agree on the timing of his arrest on the night.