Man jailed for transporting cannabis 

By Eimear Dodd 

A man who was caught transporting over €200,000 of cannabis told gardai he would rather take the blame, than a bullet in the head. 

Paul Costello (54) made the comment when he was interviewed by gardai after his van was found to contain 10kg of cannabis. 

Yesterday, Costello was jailed at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for four years. 

Costello of Cois Cairn, Old Connaught Avenue, Bray, Co. Wicklow pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis for sale or supply on January 30, 2024.

He has 16 previous convictions, but none for drug-related offences. 

Having considered the mitigation and Costello’s personal circumstances, Judge Martin Nolan said the court considered Costello was “probably unlikely to reoffend to the same degree in future”.

He said the court thought the defendant was a “low level operative”, but a custodial sentence was required. 

An investigating garda told Pieter Le Vert BL, prosecuting, that gardai stopped a van being driven by Costello on the Wilford Roundabout in Bray on foot of confidential information. 

Costello appeared nervous when he was stopped and there was a smell of cannabis from the van.

He was taken to Shankill Garda Station along with the van. 

The court heard that the keys didn’t open the back of the van and Costello initially told gardai he didn’t have access to this area of the vehicle.

However, he provided another key to gardai once he was in custody at the station. 

10kg of cannabis with a value of €200,180 was found in the back of the van.

€52 of cocaine was located during a search of the front of the vehicle. 

Costello was interviewed four times and took responsibility for the drugs in the van.

He said the cocaine was for his personal use. 

He said he had met some men by arrangement, who put the drugs in the back of the van, and he then drove off, but didn’t give any further details because he was in fear. 

The investigating garda agreed with Garnet Orange SC, defending, that his client co-operated as far as he could and spoke about his own offending.

The garda accepted Mr Orange’s contention that his client wouldn’t speak about the origin or destination of the drugs saying he was “taking the blame, rather than a bullet in the head”. 

It was further agreed that Costello has no trappings of wealth, entered an early guilty plea and has a number of health issues. 

Mr Orange told the court his client has serious health issues including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

A number of medical reports were handed to the court along with other documents. 

Mr Orange submitted that his client’s previous convictions are not on the same scale as this offence and Costello was a family man of “reasonably good character”. 

He said his client was a “courier, not an owner” and told gardai he was due to receive €100 a kilo for his role. 

Defence counsel asked the court to take into account his client’s co-operation, early guilty plea and health issues. 

Judge Nolan said Costello was transporting the drugs for third parties and “obviously was going to receive a reward” for his involvement, which was a “misjudgement”. 

He said Costello’s previous convictions are not relevant and noted his co-operation, admissions, and early guilty plea. 

The judge directed that all medical reports should be provided to the prison service and all medical services provided to Costello while he’s in custody.