TWO MEN who had been caught in Galway with two packs of explosives and a detonator destined for criminal gangs in Limerick were each jailed for six years yesterday.
Imposing the sentences on Oliver Mannion (32), Rinville West, Oranmore, Co Galway and drugs courier, Gareth Charters (28), Rock Valley, Dromahair, Co Leitrim, Judge Raymond Groarke said the explosives had the power to cause serious damage or loss of life.
The judge said they were destined for Limerick city “where there is serious social and criminal turmoil because of the serious drug wars taking place there”.
Both men pleaded guilty at Galway Circuit Criminal Court to having an estimated 17.5kg of an explosive substance containing ammonium nitrate in their possession at Mannion’s home on September 6th, 2008.
They also pleaded guilty to having an explosives shock tube detonator in their possession on the same date for an unlawful purpose.
Det Sgt Willie Beirne said two boxes of commercial explosives weighing 25kg each were stolen from a compound in Athenry during the construction of the M6 motorway a week before the men were caught with explosives at Mannion’s home, a few miles away in Oranmore.
Gardaí raided Mannion’s home as he and Charters were loading two 2.5kg packages of explosives into the back of Charters’ courier van. A follow-up search of the premises uncovered five more packages comprising 12.5kg of explosives, while the remaining three packages weighing 7.5kg were never found.
Mannion would not name the people for whom the explosives were intended in Limerick.
Det Beirne said the accused was associated with criminal elements in Galway’s drug trade.
Charters admitted he had been a regular drugs courier for suppliers in Sligo and had carried out 14 drug runs for them in the past. He said he was paid €500 to bring something from Oranmore to Limerick that day but he did not realise it would be a consignment of explosives until he arrived at Mannion’s house. When he asked Mannion what the two packages contained, Mannion had replied, “Boom”, while gesticulating with his hands that it was explosives.
Judge Raymond Groarke noted 50kgs of explosives had been stolen from the M6 compound but that only 17.5kgs had been found at Mannion’s home. “That is a serious amount of explosives and the Sergeant said there would have been loss of life and enormous destructive power in such a consignment,” he said.