By Fiona Ferguson
A Brazilian man ingested 100 pellets of cocaine worth €50,000 before traveling to Ireland in a “crime of desperation,” Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard.
Lucas Andre Alves (26) became involved in the offence after losing his job in Brazil.
Alves, originally from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, pleaded guilty to possession of the drugs worth €57,342 for sale or supply at Dublin Airport on September 8, 2024.
He has no previous convictions and has been in custody since his arrest.
Passing sentence today on Friday (17th), Judge Martin Nolan said any person willing to ingest that amount of drugs was in desperate circumstances.
“This is a crime of desperation,” he said.
He notes Alves’ guilty plea, his good work history and that he was doing well in custody. He said he was unlikely to reoffend.
Judge Nolan said there was a ten-year mandatory minimum for this offence, but the court had the discretion to depart from that, noting the early guilty plea.
He imposed a two-year and nine-month sentence, backdated to September 2024.
Garda Peter Elliot told Simon Matthews BL, prosecuting, that Alves was stopped at airport customs and admitted to ingesting the pellets.
He passed them in hospital over four days.
The garda said Alves told them he had not been forced in the beginning, but when he changed his mind, the people involved said he could not leave until he had paid for his flights, hotel and passport.
He said he did not know what kind of drugs he was carrying.
Michael Hourigan SC, defending, said Alves had come into the sights of “these people” after losing his job.
He said there had been a degree of choice in getting involved, but also some coercion.
He said Alves took enormous risk for very little reward.
He is anxious to return to Brazil.