Man jailed for drug carrying

By Sonya McLean

A man who agreed to pick up almost €150,000 worth of drugs from a van because he had run up a debt due to an addiction to Xanax has been jailed for three years.

Jason Smith (31) of Beechdale Lawn, Ballycullen, Dublin 24, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of various drugs including, cannabis, cocaine and cannabis jellies in the Dundrum area of Dublin on June 1, 2023.

Garda Kevin Keogh told Rebecca Smith BL prosecuting that gardaí had a parked van under surveillance, following a tip off that it had been left there for a number of weeks.

Smith was spotted pulling up beside the van and removing an item from it before placing it in his own car. He was stopped a few moments later by gardaí. He was sole occupant of the car and was “visibly nervous”, Gda Keogh said.

A quantity of cannabis jellies, valued at €2,304 and a quantity of cannabis was found in his car. Gardaí then searched the van and found it had a hidden compartment in which further vacuum packed bags of cocaine were discovered.

Gda Keogh confirmed that the total value of the drugs seized was €143,697, which included cocaine valued at €21,612 and the cannabis valued at €119,219.

Smith was arrested and claimed that his role was to go to the van and remove items from it and then to hand back these items along with the key to the van. He maintained that he didn’t know it was drugs.

Gardaí were unable to identify the owner of the van as it had been falsely registered.

Smith said he was addicted to Xanax which led to him building up a drug debt.

Gda Keogh agreed with Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing SC defending that gardaí don’t accept that Smith didn’t know what he was collecting but accepted that he got involved because of his own addiction.

He agreed that the van was being used as a storage facility and was probably intended for the transportation of drugs too.

Mr Ó Dúnlaing told Judge Martin Nolan that his client accepts responsibility and is ashamed of his own actions. He had written a letter expressing these sentiments for the court.

He said his client was the victim of a tiger kidnapping when he was about 10 years old and his parents separated when he was a young child. Counsel said Smith found himself acting as a father figure later for his own siblings and also a younger cousin.

Mr Ó Dúnlaing said Smith began to take Xanax to help him cope, which led to an addiction and subsequently a drug debt.

Judge Nolan accepted that others took advantage of Smith’s drug debt and acknowledged that he was a good man in relation to his family and that his childhood had not been without its challenges.

He acknowledged that there were many testimonials handed in which spoke well of Smith and accepted there was good mitigation in the case including that he had pleaded guilty and co-operated with the garda investigation in general.

“He was a young man who made a very bad decision to help get this product to market,” Judge Nolan said before he set a headline sentence of six years.

He said taking into account the mitigation in the case he would reduce the sentence to three years.