American jailed for smuggling half a million cannabis herb

By Jessica Magee

An American man who smuggled over €540,000 of cannabis herb into Dublin Airport has been sentenced to five and a half years in jail.

Phung Sein Tran (43), with an address in Seattle, pleaded guilty to importing 27 kilograms of the drug for sale or supply into Dublin Airport on May 29 last.

Passing sentence yesterday at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Martin Nolan said Tran was a mature man who took a risk and has to pay the price.

Judge Nolan said that it was unlikely that Tran would re-offend by reason of his previous good behaviour.

He added that Tran had pleaded early, cooperated with gardaí and had a good work history.

The sentence was backdated when Tran went into custody on arrest.

Garda Tanya Shinkins told Tessa White BL, prosecuting, that customs officers became suspicious when they saw a man acting nervously at Dublin Airport on the day in question.

His two large suitcases were scanned, and after an anomaly showed up on the X-ray, they were found to contain black vacuum-packed packages of cannabis herb.

Tran was immediately cooperative and said the sole purpose of his trip was to smuggle cannabis and that he was not aware of the quantity of the drug as it had already been zip-locked.

He told gardaí he was to be paid €8,000 and was to meet a person unknown in the Burlington Hotel to hand over the cannabis.

The cannabis was analysed and found to have an estimated street value of €540,820.

Tran has some minor convictions for misdemeanour as a juvenile and some road traffic offences from his early adulthood, but nothing related to drugs.

Paul Greene SC, defending, said Tran had significant issues with alcohol addiction and gambling, which escalated to the point where he made a very unwise decision for a relatively small amount of money.

Mr Greene said Tran has claimed that his partner and other family members have been subjected to threats abroad because he failed to complete the drug transaction, although Gda Shinkins said she was not aware of that.

Counsel handed in several testimonials to Tran’s character, showing that he is held in high regard by his friends and family.

The court heard Tran has shown evidence of remorse and had been doing training with the Irish Red Cross within the prison system.

Judge Nolan noted that an Irish prison would be more difficult for Tran and backdated the sentence to May 29 last, when Tran went into custody