Man jailed for smuggling cocaine into Dublin Airport, under threat from loan sharks

By Sonya McLean

A man who agreed to bring drugs into Ireland after he was put under pressure to pay a debt he owed loan sharks has been jailed for two and half years.

Andrerson Lana (46) of no fixed abode in Brazil, came forward to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on signed pleas of guilty from the District Court. He admitted to being in possession of €280,119 worth of cocaine for sale or supply at Dublin Airport on November 4, 2024. He has no previous convictions.

Garda David Walsh told Diarmuid Connolly BL, prosecuting, that Lana brought the drugs in his luggage from Brazil to Amsterdam and then from Amsterdam to Dublin.

He was with an accomplice, who had an Italian passport. This man picked up the luggage and brought it through because as an EU citizen it was anticipated that this man would get through customs easier than Lana.

It was noted then that luggage bore the details of Lana who had been stopped by immigration.

Lana was later interviewed by gardaí. He told gardaí he owed the equivalent of just over €100,000 to loan sharks as he had allowed friends to take out loans in his name and these friends defaulted on those loans.

It is understood that some of the debt would be written off if he agreed to carry the drugs.

Gda Walsh agreed with Carl Hanahoe SC, defending, that his client made “full and frank admissions” during interview.

It was also accepted that the drugs had been packed into the luggage for him, he was provided with the tickets and was driven to the airport.

Mr Hanahoe said his client “found himself at the mercy of loan sharks”.

He submitted that Lana was clearly a mule. “He was no more than a mule. His bag was packed, his ticket was purchased and he was dispatched,” Mr Hanahoe said.

Counsel submitted that this fact “significantly reduces his culpability” before he added that his client made “a catastrophic error in judgement” by getting involved in the offence.

Judge Pauline Codd acknowledged that Lana had come forward on signed pleas and accepted that he was “essentially in hock” to those that he owed money to.

She said she was taking into account “the harm caused to society and to individuals who sadly become addicted and we see the adverse consequences of drug addiction every day in our towns and cities”.

Judge Codd said she was satisfied that this case mes the “exceptional circumstances” as set out by the legislation and that it would be “unfair to impose the presumptive mandatory minimum” sentence of ten years.

She took into account the fact that Lana pleaded guilty at an early stage, had no previous convictions and co-operated with the garda investigation.

She accepted that he was “put under pressure to transport the drugs” and that Lana was vulnerable to pressure.

Judge Codd imposed a sentence of seven years before she suspended the final four and half years on strict conditions. She asked Lana to enter into an undertaking to leave Ireland within a month on his release from prison.