Olivia Kelleher
A young man who was arrested after gardaí found over €618,000 worth of cannabis herb when they stopped and searched his van after it disembarked off a ferry from France has been jailed for five years.
Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard that Kamil Wlizlo (22), of Elk in northeastern Poland, was set to receive just €2,500 for bringing the cannabis to Ireland.
The cannabis was concealed in panelling in a van which was carrying furniture.
Customs officers found the drug on March 9th last when they stopped and searched a van disembarking from a ferry from Roscoff at the Port of Cork terminal in Ringaskiddy.
Customs officers discovered 97kgs of cannabis herb packed in to 37 separate parcels in a van after it came off the Brittany Ferries vessel 'Amorique'.
Possession
Mr Wlizlo was charged and pleaded guilty to possession and possession for sale and supply of cannabis herb.
Det Garda Dermot Crowley said that Mr Wlizlo was stopped in a random check of vehicles.
He was arrested and taken to Togher Garda Station in Cork city where he told gardaí he had been approached by males whilst he sat his parked vehicle on the outskirts of Bordeaux.
They asked him to make a delivery to Ireland and offered him double his usual fee. He initially told gardaí that he thought he was transporting cigarettes.
However, on his third Garda interview he admitted he knew he was transporting cannabis.
Mr Wlizlo is in a long term relationship and is the father of a two-year-old child. He has no connections to Ireland and is without previous convictions.
At the time of his arrest Mr Wlizlo was the owner of his own transport company. Barrister Emmet Boyle said that his client was a man with very little English.
Guilty plea
Mr Boyle said that Wlizlo “made admissions against his own interest” and entered a guilty plea at the earliest opportunity. He stressed that his client cooperated with gardaí.
Judge Sean O'Donnabhain said that Mr Wlizlo had knowingly allowed himself to be used by the men to transport drugs, adding that the case merited a seven-year sentence.
However, given the young man’s lack of ties to the jurisdiction and the hardships of this he jailed him for five years.
