A cocaine addict who was caught with almost €270,000 worth of drugs following a Garda surveillance operation has been jailed for 10 years by Judge Katherine Delahunt at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Paul Hill (32), The Heights, Kelly's Bay, Skerries, confessed to the surveillance team when caught accepting almost €222,000 worth of cocaine, that it was not the first time he had arranged to pick up drugs.
Hill also told gardaí they could find more drugs and "some mixing stuff" at his home after admitting he had previously got €1,000 to transport cocaine and was expecting to get paid a similar amount on this occasion.
He had a €10,000 debt from his €1,000-a-week cocaine habit and was acting as a courier to help pay it off.
Hill pleaded guilty to possession of the cocaine for sale or supply at Seacrest Estate, Skerries, and to a further haul worth €21,560 and cannabis worth €25,200 at his home on December 13th, 2005.
Judge Delahunt said the drugs paraphernalia, mixing agents and €7,000 cash found in Hill's home "indicated there was some form of business being run" but accepted that he had also been acting in "a courier-type capacity".
Judge Delahunt noted that Hill had a significant cocaine habit at the time, which he had made "an attempt to conquer", but he said that he was "not at a small level" of the operation and could not be "considered someone who was forced into the drug trade".
Det Garda John McMonagle told Dominic McGinn, prosecuting, that gardaí had observed Hill taking a package from a man who drove into the Seacrest estate in a Northern-registered car.
The surveillance team moved in and arrested both men. Hill immediately took responsibility for the drugs and told gardaí he got a call the previous night instructing him to meet a man there and was waiting for another call for more directions. Hill had no previous convictions at the time but had since been convicted of 13 District Court offences.