Man jailed for six years for transporting over three million euro worth of cannabis 

By Niamh O’Donoghue 

A man who was paid €100 to transport over three million euro of cannabis has been jailed for six years. 

Francis Cox (54) pleaded guilty to possession of 161.5kg cannabis at the M50 motorway on March 20, 2024. Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that €3.23 million of cannabis was seized. 

Cox of Hazelmere, Naas, Co. Kildare has no previous convictions. 

Detective Garda Niall Cleary of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau told the court an operation was put in place of the M1 motorway. 

Cox was driving the van, which was stopped by gardai on the M50.  

A mobile phone and a lottery ticket were among the items found in the cab, which Cox said was his property.  

The rear of the van was searched, and boxes of suspected cannabis was found. 

After gardai searched the van they cautioned Cox who denied knowing what was in it saying “I don’t know. All I was told was to meet a fella…I didn’t know what was in it.” 

He was interviewed on three occasions where he told gardai he couldn’t give information because he was scared for his life. 

In the third interview, Cox answered some questions and told gardai he got €100 for driving the van. 

Cox told gardai he was on disability allowance  of €220 a week and talked about the cost of living.

He said he had a motorbike accident and broke his collarbone. 

He also said he’d had a heart bypass the previous October.

He said he was separated from his wife and had two children and was approached to drive the van. 

Justin McQuade BL, prosecuting, told the court the mandatory minimum sentence for the offence was 10 years. 

In mitigation, Patrick Gageby SC, defending, said his client had had “a bad year”.

He had a heart bypass, a motorbike accident, a relationship break-up and ended up homeless. 

Mr Gageby said it was “a very serious case” and that up to this offence Cox was a person of good character.

He was a good father and had none of the trappings of wealth, Mr Gageby said,  and asked the judge for clemency. 

Passing sentence today, Judge Martin Nolan said he was happy Cox was “a low-level operative” whose function was to transport drugs.

The judge said there was no evidence of wealth. 

He took account of Cox’s plea of guilty, co-operation with gardai, work history, references,  and that he had no previous convictions. 

The judge also noted that he had been in a serious motorbike accident and had a cardiac problem. 

“It seems he was in financial straits at the time.. he was prey to temptation,” said the judge. 

Judge Nolan said he questioned how far he should depart from the mandatory minimum sentence but noted the strong mitigation in the case.

Judge Nolan said the appropriate sentence was 6 years.