Man jailed after being caught with €400,000 of vacuum packed cannabis at Dublin Airport

By Sonya McLean

A man who was caught with just over €400,000 of vacuum packed cannabis at Dublin Airport has been jailed for three years.

Mohamad Alaha (20) had just come off a flight from Canada when his luggage was searched because customs officers found his behaviour suspicious, Simon Donagh BL, prosecuting, told the court.

Alaha came forward to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court following signed pleas of guilty at the District Court. He admitted to importation of 20 kilogramme of the drug into Ireland on April 26, 2025. He has no previous convictions.

Marc Thompson SC, defending, said that his client was almost at the doors of the airport when he approached the x-ray machine. He said Alaha was “sweating profusely – he had a look around and placed it on the x-ray machine”.

“If it were not for his own actions, he most likely would not be here,” Mr Thompson submitted.

He said his client and his family fled Syria, when Alaha was 11 years old and moved to Canada.

Counsel said his client suffered with his mental health and later developed a drug addiction. His family sent him to Egypt to get drug treatment but he had built up a debt at that point. He later relapsed.

Mr Thomspon said Alaha had attempted to settle his debts by selling off his car, his laptop and various other possessions but he ultimately agreed to partake in moving these drugs from one place to another to reduce his debt.

He submitted that while his client did have a choice, that choice was “limited”.

Judge Orla Crowe said Alaha was “literally caught red-handed” but acknowledged that he had come forward on signed pleas of guilty and as such had pleaded at the earliest opportunity.

She said “drug trafficking was a scourge on our society” and added that Alaha had moved a large amount of drugs into this country to pay off a debt.

Judge Crowe accepted that Alaha is doing well in custody before she imposed a three-year jail term which was backdated to when he first went into custody on the day of his arrest last April.