A man caught with cannabis worth £376,000 has been jailed for five years by Judge Kieran O'Connor at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. Noel Mullen (46), married with six children, of Donard Walk, Navan Road, Cabra, was arrested on October 1st, 1997, when gardai found 37.6 kg of the drug in his car.
Garda Patricia McGarrity told Mr George Birmingham, prosecuting, that gardai approached Mullen in the carpark of the Angler's Rest pub at the Strawberry Beds in Dublin. Mullen was a drug courier and was paid £5,000. At the time of the offence, he was unemployed. He had no previous drug-related convictions.
Mr Brendan Grehan, defending, pleaded with the judge to treat him as a first-time offender. Mullen had asked him to apologise in court for the effect it has had on his family and the community.
Judge O'Connor said: "You were still involved in drugs which amounted to a lot in street value, though you do have a history of being a hard worker. I'm not making your sentence longer only because of your wife and children."