A MAN who swallowed €58,000 worth of cocaine to smuggle it into Ireland has been jailed for six years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Fidel Guiaso (36) from Colombia in South America said he smuggled the drugs to pay his grandfather’s medical bills.
Judge Katherine Delahunt told him he was “an essential cog in a very evil trade”.
Guiaso, of Noordinda Hiw, The Hague, Holland, but originally from Colombia, pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine for sale or supply at Cassidy’s Hotel, Cavendish Row, Dublin, on September 1st, 2008.
Sgt Brian Sourke told Stephen McCann, prosecuting, that gardaí observed the hotel and saw a car with two men arrive at it. One of the men went upstairs to a room where Guiaso was staying. Guiaso had a large amount of laxatives and was attempting to pass the cocaine which he had swallowed in pellets in Holland the previous day.
The man left with 81 of the 87 pellets. Guiaso said he never saw his face and handed over the drugs from behind a door. Shortly afterwards, gardaí raided the room and arrested Guiaso.