A father of three who said he agreed to collect cannabis resin for a €1,000 payment because he needed money to buy Christmas toys has been given a 10-year jail sentence.
Trim Circuit Court heard that the accused believed he was collecting two kilos of cannabis resin but instead there were 188 slabs, or 47 kilos, which had a street value of €329,000 .
Christopher Sweeney (26), of The View, Belgard Heights, Tallaght, Dublin, pleaded guilty to having the drug for the purpose of selling or supplying it to others.
The court was told that gardaí received information that Sweeney was due to collect a large quantity of the drug and a surveillance operation was put into place.
On the evening of December 6th, 2005, Sweeney drove into a supermarket car park in Ratoath, and a short time later a car parked beside his.
The driver of the other car moved the cannabis slabs from his boot into the boot of Sweeney's car, and gardaí kept it under surveillance before stopping it at Bennetsbridge near Dunboyne.
When gardaí opened the boot Sweeney immediately told them there was 47 kilos of cannabis resin.
He told gardaí he was contacted by a person he did not want to name to collect two kilos, for which he would receive €1,000. He needed money to buy Christmas presents for his children. He only realised how much of the drug was involved when it was put into his boot.
Sgt Tom Murphy agreed with defence counsel that Sweeney could easily be taken advantage of. His mother, Christine, said he had attention deficit disorder but had been getting his life together.
Judge Michael O'Shea said by using his own car and transporting the drugs Sweeney was aware of what he was doing. He was not naive and "knew perfectly well what was going on".
He said the amount of the drug was an extremely aggravating factor. It was an appropriate case for the minimum 10-year custodial sentence. However, he would suspend the last three years of it on Sweeney entering into a bond to keep the peace.