A prominent Dublin drug dealer who told gardai he made £32,500 in profit from the sale of cocaine over a six-month period has been jailed for five years by Judge Elizabeth Dunne.
Robert Harrison (37), of North Clarence Street, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two counts of the possession of cocaine for sale or supply on August 18th, 2001. He has 29 previous convictions.
The court heard Harrison purchased a BMW for £38,500 two days before he was arrested and also had a mortgage of £135,000 on a house at Rafters Lane in Crumlin.
The car and three bank accounts are all the subject of a High Court restraining order while CAB carried out further investigations into Harrison's assets.
Judge Dunne re-listed the case for March 22nd when she will decide what order to make in relation to Harrison's assets.
Det Gda Jordan said Harrison was arrested as he left a flat on Dunne St in Dublin city centre carrying three plastic shopping bags.
A surveillance operation had been launched on the flat as part of an ongoing garda investigation in to the sale of drugs in Dublin, in which Harrison had been specifically targeted.
Harrison attempted to throw five 1 gramme deals of cocaine, with a street value of £400, from his waistband during a search at Store Street garda station. He also had £3,500 in cash in one of his pockets.
Judge Dunne said that there was no doubt the drugs seized were of a significant quantity and that the maximum sentence for such an offence was life imprisonment but she could only deal with the case on the basis of the evidence before her.
"The court must take a serious view of such offences because the sale of drugs causes a great deal of difficulty to many people and can lead to the commission of other offences to feed such habits," she said.
"Were it not for the plea of guilty a sentence of seven years would have been more appropriate," she added.