Rapist has sentence extended after €380,000 cannabis bust

By Eimear Dodd and Jessica Magee

A convicted rapist who was storing €380,000 of cannabis in his home has been sentenced to two years in prison.

Leonard Merdanj (42) of Westbrook Park, Balbriggan pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis for sale or supply on April 21, 2017 at the same address.

Merdanj is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence for rape and is due for release in June 2028.

In a ruling at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Wedneday, Judge Martin Nolan sentenced Merdanj to two years, to run consecutively to his current term.

Judge Nolan said Merdanj was found in possession of about 19kg of cannabis which he was holding for third parties, describing him as a the “lower-middle” range in the drug dealing operation.

The court heard previously that gardaí got a warrant to search Merdanj’s property on foot of a confidential tip-off.

When gardaí arrived at the house, Merdanj’s wife and son were present.

They found cannabis in several locations in the house, some of which had been wrapped in blankets.

Merdanj was later arrested and made full admissions to gardaí during interview.

He has two previous convictions.

The investigating garda agreed with defence counsel that Merdanj had been approached by a third party and asked to store the drugs in his home for onward transmission.

Counsel said Merdanj had been taken advantage of because he had a debt.

The court heard Merdanj had a drink problem and was used by others who were aware that he was also in debt.

Merdanj’s only involvement in the scheme was to allow his home to be used to store the drugs.

The accused is a father-of-two and a number of testimonials were handed into the court on his behalf.

A certificate was also provided from Albania which stated that Merdanj has no convictions there.