Dublin courier caught transporting five kg of cannabis is jailed

By Sonya McLean

 A Dublin courier who was caught with over five kilogrammes of cannabis in his delivery van has been jailed for three years.

Kyle Boland (27) of Isolda Road, Ringsend, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to having the drugs for sale or supply, valued at €117,762, on May 14, 2021.

Garda Stephen Gillespie told Aoife McNickle BL prosecuting, that gardaí stopped Boland’s van on the Rathfarnham Road in Dublin having received a tip off.

A holdall with a kilogramme of the drug was found beside the sliding door of the vehicle.

The vehicle was seized and taken to a nearby garda station where a further cardboard box containing the remainder of the drugs were discovered.

A phone and a tick list were found in the front of the van.

Gda Gillespie said Boland’s 99 previous convictions were mainly for road traffic offences but included possession of a flick knife.

Gda Gillespie agreed with Fiona Murphy SC, defending, that Boland had been living in a hotel at the time.

He had agreed to transport the drugs on the promise of €500 to knock off a drug debt.

He accepted a suggestion from counsel that Boland “was clearly doing the bidding of someone else”.

Judge Martin Nolan said Boland is an intelligent young man who could change his life, “but that is up to him”.

He said he was “involved in a reasonably big drug dealing enterprise” but accepted he was a minor cog in that enterprise.

Judge Nolan said Boland deserved a custodial term before he sentenced him to three years in prison.