Men from Wicklow and Louth jailed after €330,000 of cannabis found in possession

Sean Boland (41) of Carlinn Drive, Mullaharlin Rd, Dundalk, Co Louth, was sentenced to five years in prison after he admitted possessing about 12kg of cannabis valued at €240,000 at three locations on October 17, 2022.

Co-accused Jeffrey Reynolds (34) of Corke Abbey, Bray, Co Wicklow was sentenced to three years in prison after he pleaded guilty to possessing about €88,000 worth of cannabis herb on the same day.

Passing sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on Wednesday, Judge Martin Nolan described Boland as being “reasonably high level” in the drugs operation, as he had been distributing cannabis to third parties.

Judge Nolan said both Boland and Reynolds had embarked on this enterprise for profit and alleviation of their own drug debts, but that Reynolds had been in possession of a lesser quantity of drugs.

Garda Peter Morris told John Moher BL, prosecuting, that gardaí had received confidential information on the day in question to the effect that there would be a transaction of suspected cannabis.

Gardaí travelled to the carpark of Tesco at Holywell, Link Road in Swords where they observed two vans leaving, driven by Boland and Reynolds.

The van driven by Reynolds was searched and found to contain a box of cannabis weighing 4.4kg, with a street value of €88,000.

Gardaí obtained further warrants and searched Boland's apartment in Dundalk, where they found a bag of cannabis herb wrapped inside a bag of tools.

Gardaí also seized a vacuum sealer device, weighing scales and a ticklist.

Another apartment in the same complex was also searched and over 7kg of cannabis was found in black bin bags in the utility room.

The court heard that when arrested, Boland made full and frank admissions and said he wanted to “put his hands up” and that there was “no point in dragging it on”.

He agreed with gardaí that he had taken a box of cannabis herb out of a van and handed it to Reynolds.

He told gardaí had run up a debt from taking cannabis.

Boland has ten previous convictions from the District Court including drugs and public order offences and unauthorised carriage of an MPV.

Dominic McGinn SC, defending Reynolds, said his client was also taking cannabis and had incurred a debt.

Garda Morris agreed that Reynolds was “not somebody who's higher up in the drug world” and had been operating “at street level”.

Counsel said Reynolds worked on a farm in the West of Ireland to allow himself to become drug free.

Judge Nolan accepted that both accused had good work histories, good mitigation and were unlikely to reoffend in the future.