Man who smuggled €600,000 of cannabis into Dublin Airport thought he was carrying gold or watches

Danny Povey (43) was jailed for four and a half years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Wednesday.

Povey, with an address in London, UK pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis for sale or supply at Dublin Airport on September 4, 2024. He has no previous convictions.

The court heard that Povey had arrived in Dublin Airport on a flight from Lisbon and was questioned by customs officials after he picked up his luggage.

Anomalies were detected when his bags were x-rayed. Just over 29kg of cannabis, with a value of €596,000, was found.

An investigating garda told Pieter Le Vert BL, prosecuting, that Povey had travelled to Thailand with his girlfriend, who was also stopped and found to be carrying a similar amount of cannabis.

Povey told gardai that he went with his girlfriend, who had booked the trip, after her friend dropped out at the last minute. He said a third party, who he didn’t know, paid for the trip.

He told gardai he received money from this third party, including 40,000 Thai Baht, and £400 sterling, and was due to be paid €4,000.

He said he believed he was transporting gold or watches to the UK, and locked suitcases were delivered to him while he was staying in Thailand.

The investigating garda agreed with defence counsel that the suitcases had combination locks and were locked when they were searched.

It was further accepted that he was co-operative with gardai and entered an early guilty plea.

Counsel told the court Povey has a long work history as a scaffolder and an offer of work upon his release. He also has one young child.

Counsel said Povey was a “drugs mule” and that he “fell into, not by design but by chance”.  He said his client is aware that he is facing a custodial sentence and asked the court for as much leniency as possible.

Judge Martin Nolan said Povey was a “transporter of drugs” and by reason of his personal circumstances and mitigation, the court considered he was “probably unlikely to offend to a great degree in future”.

He noted the mitigation includes Povey’s guilty plea, his work history and that his time in custody may be more difficult as he is a British national.

Judge Nolan said Povey has a “reasonable low level of culpability”,  but “a proposition was put to him and he made a huge mistake”.

The judge imposed a sentence of four and a half years backdated to when Povey went into custody last September.