Roscommon man freed in Greece on smuggling charge

A young Roscommon man has been freed from jail in Greece after his conviction for cigarette smuggling was overturned.

Lorry-driver Mr Eamon Donnellan (23) of Culkeen, Cloonfad was jailed for three-and-a-half years in July after 176,000 packs of contraband cigarettes were found in his cargo when it was searched at the Greek port of Patras. Within three days Mr Donnellan had been found guilty and sent to jail in Athens.

Mr Donnellan had travelled to Greece to collect a cargo of olive oil for a supermarket chain in Ireland. He told the court the consignment was wrapped in 23 pallets and he had no idea that the cargo included cigarettes.

A campaign was mounted in his home village to seek his release, with more than 400 people attending a meeting to form a committee.

Mr Donnellan appealed the conviction and yesterday afternoon he walked free from police custody in Patras after three High Court judges declared him innocent.

His family was "over the moon", said Ms Deirdre Donnellan, who is married to his brother Michael. "We can't believe it. It's absolutely brilliant. His mother doesn't know which end of her is up today. The phone is permanently engaged."

She said the family had hoped that there would be good news but they were afraid that they might be let down. In October, he had been refused bail and at one stage it seemed that the appeal would not be heard until next September.

"This will really make Christmas for us," she said.

Mr Donnellan's parents did not travel to the hearing but his brothers Michael and Patrick went to Greece and Patrick supplied a character reference yesterday.

Ms Donnellan thanked everyone for their support and said the people of Cloonfad had backed him from the start. "He's a very likeable fellow. He's only young and he hadn't been driving that long. People were really, really great."

Speaking outside the court house in Patras yesterday, Fianna Fáil senator, Mr Terry Leyden said everyone was "jubilant" that Mr Donnellan had been vindicated. "He is totally innocent. We knew that from the start," he said. "He had no hand, act, or part in it. He had 23 pallets of supposed olive oil for the supermarket chian. The supermarket chain had no hand, act or part in it either."

The Roscommon senator had campaigned for Mr Donnellan's release and had travelled to Greece twice to offer character references.

He said it was clear that Mr Donnellan had not received a fair trial in July. Although Mr Donnellan had told the port authority officials everything he knew, and had offered to take them to where he picked up the cargo, they did not follow up this information, Mr Leyden said. He said it was now up to the Greek authorities to discover who had initiated the smuggling operation. "There's a wider story in this yet," he said.

Mr Donnellan will arrive in Dublin Airport with his relatives and supporters early on Thursday morning.