By Sonya McLean
A man who carried almost €380,000 worth of cannabis into Ireland in order to get money for hospital bills following an accident while on holiday has been jailed for four years and nine months.
Liam Roberts (29) was on holiday in Thailand for a month when he had an accident that led to £10,000 (Stg) in hospital bills.
He also could not afford to pay for flights home.
He was then approached and asked to transport drugs and was advised that his hospital bills and flight home would be paid for in return.
Roberts, who is from Chester in England, came forward to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court from the District Court on signed pleas of guilty to importation of and possession of cannabis for sale or supply at Dublin Airport on May 19, 2026.
He has a number of previous convictions from the UK, including offences for drug dealing.
John Quirke BL, prosecuting, said that Roberts was stopped coming off a flight from Thailand after a scan of his luggage revealed an anomaly.
Roberts was being assisted by staff through the airport and it was clear he had suffered an injury.
Roberts assisted custom officers when his luggage was searched, pulling aside his clothing and telling them: “There – that is what you are looking for.”
The drugs, 17.86kg of cannabis with a total street value of €357,200, were packaged individually and covered in chilli paste in attempt to disguise them.
Roberts was later arrested and made full admissions to gardaí. He said he was due to hand over the suitcase to someone outside the airport.
He did not know who he was meeting but they had a photograph of him.
Marc Thompson SC, defending, submitted that Roberts was at the lowest end of the organisation but accepted that he had previous convictions for drug dealing.
He asked the court to accept that the fact his client had come forward on signed pleas of guilty, meant that he had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
Judge Martin Nolan said Roberts had been transporting the drugs “for some type of reward” and had been “persuaded” by others to get involved.
He acknowledged that he had pleaded guilty at a very early stage in the court process before he imposed a sentence of four years and nine months backdated to Roberts’ arrest in May this year.