Man caught with €830,000 worth of cannabis herb jailed

By Isabel Hayes

A man who was caught with €830,000 worth of cannabis herb which arrived into the country hidden inside wooden shelves has been jailed for six years and nine months.

The pallet of flatpack furniture came under suspicion by Customs officers when a sniffer dog indicated to them that it contained drugs in February last year, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard yesterday.

A controlled delivery was carried out with gardaí in surveillance and Arnoldas Paleckis was caught when he arrived in a rental van to pick it up.

When gardaí smashed through the wooden shelves inside the flatpack furniture, they found cannabis herb with a street value of €830,000 inside the hollowed out shelves.

Paleckis (33) with an address at Mariners View, Castletownbere, Co Cork, pleaded guilty to one count of possessing the drugs for sale or supply at Newcastle, Co Dublin, on February 13, 2024.

He also pleaded guilty to having an encrypted phone for the commission of an offence.

He has one previous conviction for the production of a drug in the UK, for which he was sentenced to two years in prison, Olan Callinan BL, prosecuting, told the court.

Paul Murray SC, defending, said Paleckis had run up a gambling debt of €5,000 and was put under pressure to carry out the offence.

He submitted the guilty plea was of benefit to the court.

Sentencing Paleckis, Judge Martin Nolan accepted Paleckis was remorseful for his actions and was put under pressure to pick up the drugs.

But he said Paleckis was “a mature man who made the decision to become involved” in the commission of the offence.

He set a jail term of six years and nine months.