A south Dublin man has been ordered to perform community service in lieu of three years’ imprisonment for his role in a business importing “designer drugs” into the country.
Michael Leahy (30) was caught with €35,000 worth of an illegal substance known as MEC, which is similar in its effects to amphetamines. The drug was so rare that the Garda had to get a professor from Trinity College Dublin to confirm what it was.
Leahy was also caught with €1,772 worth of the head shop drug mephedrone. He was selling the drugs from an office on Haddington Road, Dublin.
Leahy, Bray Road, Foxrock, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to importing a psychoactive substance between October 1st, 2010, and May 18th, 2011.
Earlier this year, he was given a five-year suspended sentence for a separate drug charge involving €32,000 worth of mephedrone. Judge Mary Ellen Ring imposed 230 hours community service to be performed within 12 months.