A man who accompanied a one-armed Spanish pensioner bringing cocaine valued at £70,000 into Dublin Airport has been jailed for 6 1/2 years.
Jefferson Roche (27), a courier, of Willwood Walk, Clonsilla, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of the cocaine valued at £10,000 or more on September 14th, 1999. His co-accused, Jose Manuel Riero (58), of Benalmadona, near Malaga in Spain, was jailed for 41/2 years last February for his role in the crime.
Garda Tony Grehan told Mr Shane Murphy, prosecuting, that both men were arrested when they disembarked from a flight from Madrid.
Roche had no previous convictions. He admitted his role when arrested and said that while on holidays in Torremolinos in Spain he met a man who offered him money for this drugs operation.
Judge Elizabeth Dunne said Roche's co-accused had been jailed for 41/2 years and the court should give a comparative sentence in this case. The co-accused was a Spanish national and the courts accepted that foreigners would find jail here harder.
In the circumstances she felt a 61/2-year sentence was appropriate. Judge Dunne refused an application for a review date for the sentence.