Pair caught in undercover garda drugs operation jailed

Two men have been jailed after being caught in an undercover Garda operation targeting the supply of drugs.

The “facilitator”, Karl Fish (27), introduced an undercover garda to “amateur” Declan Tynan (23), who supplied €500 of heroin to the garda but forgot to take any money for the drugs.

Tynan, Vincent Street flats, and Fish, Ashgrove, The Coombe, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to supply of a controlled drug at Vincent Street flats on March 16th, 2011. Tynan also pleaded guilty to possession of heroin on the same occasion.

Fish has 77 previous convictions while Tynan has 21.

Judge Mary Ellen Ring had remanded the pair in custody after hearing evidence last February to allow the men the opportunity to supply clean drug tests to the court before sentencing.

She noted yesterday that both men had supplied clean drugs tests in the interim but also noted there had been refusals. She said Fish had a more serious record of convictions and drug difficulties but otherwise the men were equally involved.

Judge Ring imposed a 2½- year sentence on Fish and a two-year sentence on Tynan. She suspended the final 18 months of both sentences and imposed 12 months’ probation under supervision.

Garda Gillian Moran told Colm Ó Briain, prosecuting, that gardaí were in possession of information linking a mobile phone number to the provision of drugs.

An undercover garda rang the number, said he had €500 and, following several phone calls, met Fish who told him he would “sort him out”. They went to a flats complex, where Fish made a call saying they had arrived. There was a whistle from upstairs and they went up to meet Tynan, who gave the garda a bag of a substance he believed to be heroin.

Tynan told the garda, “ring me any time, that’s the best gear around”, before telling him to “go on”. The garda left without handing over the €500 but later spoke to Tynan on the phone and met him on March 19th, when he handed over the money.

Tynan and Fish were subsequently arrested and interviewed.

Garda Moran agreed with James Dwyer, defending Fish, that his client was “the facilitator” and it was not suggested he had drugs. Fish told gardaí he had got involved because he “hadn’t a shilling” and it was “an easy 100 quid”.

Garda Moran agreed with Eoghan Cole, defending Tynan, that it was “unusual” that Tynan had forgotten to relieve the purchaser of the drugs of any money at the time. She agreed gardaí were aware of a “serious and credible threat” to Tynan’s safety.

During the hearing last February, Mr Dwyer said Fish was a father of two whose own parents had died within months of each other when he was a child and he lived with his grandmother.

He said Fish was not in possession of the drug but had participated in its supply. He submitted that Fish appeared to be making efforts to rehabilitate himself and asked the court to design a sentence to facilitate that.

Mr Cole said Tynan was a father of one who had been a drug-user from a young age. He lost his brother, to whom he was very close, in 2008 and came from a good family.

He said Tynan had been engaging with rehabilitative services but after suffering a relapse found himself in hospital six months ago having overdosed on cocaine.

Mr Cole described Tynan as “an amateur and something of a fool” and not a hardened criminal.