A Brazilian woman who tried to smuggle cocaine worth £2.5 million into Dublin Airport has been remanded in custody for sentence. Maria Emilia Bilibo (32), a landscape artist, became the first person to plead guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to importing drugs under the 1999 Criminal Justice Act.
An interpreter translated the evidence into Portuguese.
Ms Orla Crowe, prosecuting, said that under the Act, there was a minimum 10-year sentence for anyone convicted of importing drugs worth more than £10,000. Det Garda Jim O'Driscoll said customs officials found just under 15 kg of cocaine hidden in picture frames which had been imported from Lima, Peru, on October 8th, 1999. Bilibo was arrested when the picture frames were found in her luggage. She told him she agreed to import the drugs because she was offered £5,000 with an additional £1,500 expenses and a free flight.
Bilibo was with another woman when arrested. Det Garda O'Driscoll said Bilibo claimed she was separated from her husband and was trying to support her parents and two children. She told gardai she was in Lima for a few weeks when she met a man called William at a disco-bar. He asked her out and offered her money to smuggle contraband to Ireland. He told her he had a house in Ireland and she could practise her landscape painting there whenever she wanted.
Det Garda O'Driscoll agreed with Mr Peter Finlay, defending, that Bilibo told gardai she and a friend had hoped to open a souvenir shop with drug-running money. She said she did not want to smuggle contraband but the man called William listed the names and addresses of her immediate family and she felt intimidated.
Det Garda O'Driscoll said he believed Bilibo was truthful with gardai at all times and had co-operated as best she could. Mr Finlay said there were extensive qualifications to the Act which applied in Bilibo's case. He said the Act allowed judges to reduce sentence if the accused had pleaded guilty and had assisted gardai in their inquiries. Mr Finlay said Bilibo was the victim of "callous manipulation" at the hands of others. He submitted the Criminal Justice Act allowed for deportation of offenders and asked the court to consider such an option.
Ms Crowe said she needed time to find out if a deportation order would conflict with the Immigration Act.
Judge Dominic Lynch said he was surprised to hear that he could order a deportation under the Criminal Justice Act and adjourned sentencing to Wednesday.