Co Kerry businessman Nathan McDonnell complained to gardaí in the months before he was arrested over a €32 million crystal meth haul about rumours circulating online suggesting he was being investigated by the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab).
McDonnell (44), then chief executive of the Ballyseedy Group, reported his concerns about a flurry of messages circulating on the internet alleging the bureau was investigating his business activities.
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“He came into Tralee Garda station one day in July 2023 to make a complaint,” a source said. “There was all this stuff circulating on WhatsApp that he was being investigated by Cab, which wasn’t true, and a uniformed member took note of the complaint.”
McDonnell was already being investigated at the time by members of the Kerry Divisional Drugs Unit after they raided a house in Listowel on June 6th, 2023. Gardaí seized five phones, SIM cards and documents that led them to McDonnell and another man.
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[ Nathan McDonnell: The rise and fall of the Kerry businessman and drug traffickerOpens in new window ]
But the unit’s investigation was a tightly run operation with none of the uniformed members in Tralee aware that the man making a complaint about false rumours was actually being investigated by another Garda unit.
The unit continued with its investigation and swooped after McDonnell took possession of 546kg of crystal meth from the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel on October 16th, 2023, which arrived from Antwerp hidden in machinery.
They were watching McDonnell on February 12th, 2024, when he removed the machinery from a shed at Ballyseedy Garden Centre and loaded it into a container to be transported to the Port of Cork. From there, it was to be shipped to Australia where there is a lucrative market for crystal meth.
Gardaí and customs officers began examining the machinery three days later. They X-rayed the equipment and discovered it contained drugs. It was not until the following day that they established the full extent of the consignment, which was valued at some €32.4 million.
McDonnell was arrested at Ballyseedy Garden Centre that afternoon and, according to evidence given by gardaí at his sentencing hearing, was so shocked when detectives came in the door that he became weak.
He was taken to Castleisland Garda station for questioning and denied having any knowledge of the drugs in the machinery.
“If I’m not aware about what’s inside it, what I can I do? I’m not a criminal or a drug addict,” he said during the interview. “This is going to be depicted like a movie given who I am and my standing.”
However, he changed his story after five days in custody.
“I have thought about it, my wife, my family at home – I have to think of safety here – people know where we live, where I live, I have a neighbour looking after the house,” he said.
McDonnell entered a signed plea of guilty at Tralee District Court to importing methylamphetamine at Cork Port, Ringaskiddy on October 16th, 2023. He was last week sentenced to 12 years in jail.
In mitigation, his senior counsel Michael Bowman told the court McDonnell acted as he did because he was under financial pressure and feared for his and his family’s safety. He had told gardaí he was to get €150,000 for his role in the operation.
Gardaí said they were surprised about McDonnell’s decision to complain about the online allegations about him being investigated for involvement in organised crime at a time when he was, to quote Ms Justice Melanie Greally, more than “a mere cog” in exactly such an operation.
“A lot of other people were being mentioned in those WhatsApp messages,” a Garda source said. “People who had no involvement at all in what he was up to but would be known to be friendly with him, so maybe it was out of concern for them that he made the complaint that day in Tralee.
“At the same time, it takes some neck to come into a Garda station to complain about rumours that Cab are investigating you while at the same time you are arranging the transfer of €32 million of crystal meth through your company for a Mexican drug cartel.”
