A Dublin man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after he was caught with heroin worth an estimated street value of €1.6 million.
Damien Hui (25), Sycamore Ave, Kingswood, Tallaght, was sentenced yesterday at Naas Circuit Criminal Court.
He was arrested by members of the National Garda Drug Unit in a field in Brannockstown, Co Kildare, in May 2004.
He was stopped and searched and 8kg of heroin were found in a bag he was carrying.
His arrest followed a long running investigation into the activities of drug dealing and organised crime in Dublin and Kildare. Gardaí believe Hui was working for a major drug dealer who has been operating from Kildare for a number of years.
He was sentenced yesterday by Judge Pat McCartan.
Hui is one of a small number of criminals to receive a so-called mandatory 10-year sentence for dealing in commercial quantities of drugs, valued at over €12,500.
Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has suggested that more dealers should receive the sentence.
Public debate on sentencing and the bail laws came to a head in December following the murder in Finglas of leading drug dealer Marlo Hyland (39).
Plumber's apprentice Michael Campbell (20) was murdered during the same attack because he was a potential eyewitness to Hyland's murder.
After the killings it transpired many members of Hyland's gang had been granted bail despite being charged with very serious firearms offences. Others had been convicted of drug dealing in commercial quantities but were now free because they had not been jailed for the 10-year term.
Department of Justice figures first revealed by The Irish Times last November indicated that of the 80 drug dealers who appeared before the courts last year and were eligible for the 10-year term, just 10 received the sentence.
In a Supreme Court ruling on December 22nd last, Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman indicated the courts would not be influenced by "strident and repeated public comments" in the preceding weeks criticising judges for not always imposing the mandatory sentence in drug supply cases.
He stressed the duty of judges was to decide individual cases impartially in accordance with the Constitution and the law and without regard to expressions of opinion, except from the DPP and the sentenced person.
