A JUDGE has ruled that nearly €16,000 in cash should not be returned to the Collopy family in Limerick, until gardaí are satisfied that the money did not result from the proceeds of drug trafficking.
Maria Collopy (38), Killonan, Ballysimon, Co Limerick, made a Garda property application to Limerick District Court to have the money returned, after it was seized on December 15th during Garda investigations into the murder of Daniel Fitzgerald.
Insp Séamus Ruane of Roxboro Garda station told Judge Tom O’Donnell that the State objected to the application on the basis that drugs worth €250,000 were found near the family home on December 8th. The cash was found later.
Nine caches of drugs containing cocaine and heroin were found near their house and these have been sent for analysis. No drugs or drug paraphernalia were found on the property itself.
Det Sgt Denis Treacy, Roxboro, said An Garda wished to withhold that sum until the Garda investigation into suspected drug trafficking had concluded.
Ms Collopy and a 14-year-old girl were arrested on December 8th. Gardaí later discovered that €3,600 was concealed in the girl’s underwear. A further €15,950 was found in a drawer in the house, but Ms Collopy claimed she had notified gardaí of its existence.
Ms Collopy testified in court that the money had been legitimately raised through market trading in Limerick, Athy and Tipperary town, as well as selling clothing in estates in St Mary’s Park, the Dublin Road and Garryowen.
However, no documents detailing the financial accounts of the company could be supplied to the court, as they were in her van, which was burned before their arrests.
In the region of €1,200 of the €3,600 seizure was collected through a Christmas club savings account, she said. However, she declined to supply the name of the person who managed the account.
She said she collected up to €500 during the course of that day and the remainder – €1,900 – was collected within two hours, to which Insp Ruane expressed astonishment. “They hardly took that in Brown Thomas,” he said.
After finishing selling goods on December 8th, she said she handed the cash to the young female “to mind” while she went into a takeaway Chinese restaurant.
Solicitor John Herbert said as a trader, Ms Collopy may have a large quantity of cash on her at any given time and she had intended to use these funds to source stock in England to sell over Christmas. She said the return of the funds was crucial to continuing her business, that she had not worked since December 8th and was not eligible for social welfare.
Mr Herbert said €11,000 was previously seized from her property in mid-2007, but was returned in full following a Garda investigation. He added that Ms Collopy had no previous drug convictions.