A FORMER Dublin Bus employee, who was arrested by gardaí after they found over €400,000 worth of cocaine at his home, has been sentenced to six years in prison.
Darren Quinn (37) formerly Bannow Road, Cabra, and now Griffith Drive, Finglas East, had no previous convictions at the time, but a European arrest warrant was issued after he failed to appear for his sentence hearing having fled to Spain.
He was arrested by gardaí at Dublin airport some time later on his way back into Ireland and was found in possession of a false passport. He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of €418,215 worth of cocaine at his former home on January 8th, 2005.
Judge Tony Hunt suspended the last two years of the sentence on condition that Quinn keep the peace and be of good behaviour for three years upon his release from custody. He took into account Quinn’s lack of previous convictions, his co-operation with gardaí and early guilty plea.
“This should go out as a salutary warning to anyone who thinks that they can involved in this kind of operation to get handy money,” the judge said .
The judge said he was satisfied his involvement was at the lower level and described it as “a very tragic case” having noted that he had since “lost his job, his assets and his marriage” and had been diagnosed as suffering from depression.