A former CIÉ bus driver has been convicted of soliciting two undercover gardaí to import cocaine from Brazil.
Sunny Idah (36) was caught following an international police operation involving Swiss police and Irish undercover gardaí. He was secretly recorded offering the gardaí money to swallow a kilogram each of cocaine pellets and bring them back to Ireland.
After a two-week trial, the jury took four hours and 20 minutes to return a unanimous guilty verdict.
Idah, from Nigeria, of Lipton Court, Dublin, and Brown Street, London, had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to two charges of soliciting to unlawfully import cocaine between September 14th and 19th, 2010.
Det Garda Ciarán O’Reilly told Colm O’Briain, prosecuting, that Idah offered €5,000 each to undercover gardaí to travel to Brazil, swallow cocaine and smuggle it back to Ireland.
He said Idah’s operation was complex and part of an “advanced international operation that would take some time to organise”. Judge Desmond Hogan remanded Idah in custody and adjourned sentencing until next month.
