A Jamaican woman was yesterday sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment at Limerick Circuit Court on charges of importing and possessing drugs.
Diane Cameron, with an address at Oravista, Richmond Hill, St James, Montego Bay, Jamaica, pleaded guilty to the unlawful importation and possession of cocaine, which had a street value of £250,000, at Shannon Airport on November 12th, 1998.
She was also charged that on November 14th at Brookville Avenue, Limerick, she had the drugs in her possession with intent to sell or supply.
Det Garda Martin O'Sullivan, of Henry Street Garda Station, said members of the drug squad were aware that the accused had arrived from Montego Bay via Florida and had booked into a guesthouse in Limerick, as they had been targeting drug-trafficking between Jamaica and Britain.
On November 14th last when gardai searched the guesthouse they found eight capsules, and the accused handed over 43 more. The capsules were found to contain cocaine.
The woman was taken to Henry Street station where she told gardai that a man she had met at a party in Jamaica had asked her to carry the drugs to Ireland for $150,000 Jamaican (£10,000 to £12,000). The drugs were to be collected from her and transported to England.
Mr Brendan Nix, prosecuting, said the accused was being used as a "mule" to transport the drugs.
Defence counsel pointed out that the accused had co-operated with gardai, had no previous convictions and had been in custody since her arrest.
Passing sentence, Judge Sean O Laoire said: "This is really serious. The amount of drugs involved was substantial." He added that the drug barons operated a system in which they never got involved, but divided up the tasks to people who were pawns. He believed that the people who were used as mules were an integral part of this chain and he did not accept that their involvement could be minimised.
Leave to appeal was refused.