NEW evidence linking Mr John Gilligan to alleged drug trafficking offences in Ireland between 1994 and 1996 was heard at a committal hearing at Belmarsh Magistrates Court, London, yesterday.
Mr Gilligan, who was arrested at Heathrow Airport on October 6th, 1996, has been charged under section 49 1(a) of the Drug Trafficking Act, 1994, which relates to the concealment of money representing the proceeds of drug trafficking. He is also charged under section 50 part one of the same Act with regard to the proceeds of drug trafficking for another person.
When Mr Gilligan was arrested attempting to board a flight to Amsterdam, £330,000 in pounds and sterling was found concealed in his briefcase. He claimed the money was the proceeds of professional gambling and was being used to buy property in Holland.
On the first of three days set aside for the hearing, the court was told by Mr John Dunne, a former operations manager from the Cork based freight company, Seabridge Ltd, that he first met Mr Gilligan in March or April of 1994 in a car park near Mr Dunne's workplace.
This meeting, the first of "a dozen or so" meetings between them during the next two years, was ostensibly set up to arrange the transportation of "spare parts for trucks" between Holland and Ireland, which Mr Dunne agreed to handle through Seabridge Freight.
During cross examination, Mr Dunne admitted that at this first meeting he knew Mr Gilligan only as "John" and did not become aware of his alleged links with drug trafficking until he read an article in the Sunday Independent in April 1996. Mr Dunne said that when he read the article, with the headline, "Factory John" and saw the accompanying photograph he was then able to identify the man with whom he had "a business involvement" as Mr John Gilligan.
Mr Dunne was questioned at length by Mr Nigel Peters QC, for the prosecution, about the nature of his business relationship with Mr Gilligan. He said that the system of communication set up between them did not have a regular pattern, but involved Mr Gilligan or another man, known as "Joe," telephoning him to "pre advise" him of when the next shipment would arrive in Cork from Holland.
At this point Mr Dunne was asked by Mr Peters to describe the cargo, which would later be collected by shipping agents in Cork.
The shipments were always cardboard or wooden boxes, he said, which had usually arrived in Cork via Holland or other parts of Europe.
Mr Peters asked him if he collected the cargo personally or whether a third party had been contacted to transport the goods throughout Ireland. "I knew the shipping details," he said, "the contact was down to me." In fact two shipping agents had been contacted, he said, and when the wooden or cardboard containers left the ships they would be left at pre arranged point in Cork for him to collect.
"I was not told what was in the containers," Mr Dunne said, "I was not told what was the weight of them, there was no discussion." He then explained that the next stage for the containers was that he would bring them in his car to the car park of the Ambassador Hotel Naas Co Kildare.
"It was normally between 6p.m. and 8p.m. when I would arrive in the car park. I did this 10 or 15 times. Sometimes I would meet "Joe", sometimes there were other people. I knew it was them when they pulled into the car park with Cork registrations." Mr Dunne then said that when he had handed over the containers, some "18 inches by 2 foot" and others which were smaller, he would wait in the hotel where Mr Gilligan or "others after that" paid him £1,000. The money "was just bundled up in £20s, £10s and £5s," he said, and then he would return to Cork.
During further questioning Mr Dunne revealed the number of shipments had been large. There had been "approximately 40 to 50 shipments" during his two year involvement, he said, but it was only following the publicity surrounding his associate that he had thought to question his own part in the arrangement. In April 1996 he began to worry "there was something not quite right." But, he admitted, he did not discuss his worries with Mr Gilligan and continued to work on his behalf.
Questioned at length by Mr Gilligan's barrister, Ms Clare Montgomery, Mr Dunne discussed the size of the wooden and cardboard boxes, their labelling and destinations. They were often small cardboard boxes with brown plastic strips of tape covering the tops, or they were wooden boxes contained in wooden frames with white address labels.
Mr Dunne said the boxes were "similar" to those he had seen at Lucan Garda station on two previous occasions. He had first been shown the boxes, by the gardai when he was arrested under section 30, offences against the State Act, on October 25th, 1996, and he saw them again last Monday.
Ms Montgomery asked him: "Were the boxes the same as the ones imported through Cork?" "They are definitely the same." Then Mr Dunne added, "they are of a similar type." At this point Ms Montgomery retorted: "First of all you said definitely then it looks the same. I don't think you can go any further and say it is the same can you?" "No," Mr Dunne replied.
The committal hearing is expected to last for three days and today it is expected that a second witness, also an employee of Seabridge Ltd will give evidence on his part in Mr Gilligan's import business.