Gardaí from the National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau swooped on a farmyard in the Kilmuckridge area of North Wexford on Monday morning and uncovered 100kg of cocaine concealed within a truck.
The four were later arrested and taken to garda stations across Wexford for questioning and were eventually charged before being brought before Judge John Cheatle at Gorey District Court.
Haulier Dean Chambers (47), owner of Dean Chambers Transport Ltd, with an address at The Lodge, Whitepark, Arklow, appeared alongside PJ Kinsella (52) of Ballyoughter, Ballygarrett, Co Wexford, Wojciech Kuzio (31), a Polish national with an address at Main Street, Arklow and Karl Dowling (52) of 1 Birch Close, Bellefield, Ferrybank, Co Waterford.
All four were charged with possession of drugs and possession of drugs for sale or supply, namely cocaine.
Kuzio made no application for bail, while gardaí strongly objected to bail being granted to Chambers, Kinsella and Dowling.
Having heard an outline of the alleged facts and noted the concerns of detectives attached to the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, noting that none of the accused had previous convictions Judge John Cheatle said that he was minded to grant bail with strict conditions including a substantial cash lodgement, signing on daily at their local garda station and a curfew between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
It was also stressed that none of the accused should have contact with each other.
Addressing concerns around the potential to re-offend, Judge Cheatle said: “I realise someone doesn’t become involved in a €7 million drug operation by chance, but I would assume that the defendants would be under significant garda scrutiny between now and trial.”
Judge Cheatle was minded to agree with the defence solicitors that their clients were entitled to the presumption of innocence and he noted: “there’s no doubt that this is a serious charge, but the defendants have no previous convictions whatsoever”.
All four men were remanded in custody to appear before Wexford District Court on Monday, with consent to bail noted for Chambers, Dowling and Kinsella, pending lodgement of documents such as a full statement of means and declaration of assets and liabilities.
Earlier today, Gardaí stated that the €7 million cocaine seizure was part of a major international operation. It saw a total of €15.2 million worth of cocaine, €350,000 cash, €320,000 cannabis, €100,000 heroin, 42 suspected ‘Ghost’ encrypted devices and 153 other electronic devices seized over the course of 33 searches nationwide, with a total of 11 arrests made.
Gardaí liaised with law enforcement colleagues from across the globe around the operation, including Europol, the Australian Federal Police and the FBI.
