A taxi driver has been jailed for four and a half years after he admitted having over €200,000 worth of cocaine in the boot of his car.
Alan Rowe (58) of Oxmantown Road, Dublin 8 said he agreed to transport the cocaine to pay off a drugs debt. He developed a cocaine habit in his 40s after the collapse of his marriage.
He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of the drugs for sale or supply at Collierstown, Co Meath on January 22nd, 2009.
Garda Stephen O’Keefe told Sinead McMullen BL, prosecuting, that after a confidential tip, gardaí followed Rowe in his car and stopped him. During a search of the boot they found six blocks of cocaine wrapped in masking tape. The drugs had an estimated street value of €207,108.
Judge Martin Nolan was told that gardaí later found €58,000 worth of cannabis in his home and €6,000 worth of amphetamines at his business address on North King Street, Dublin.
The court heard Rowe had worked hard all his life, starting off as a messenger boy for RTÉ and later setting up his own car parts business in Smithfield.
Gda O’Keefe told Michael O’Higgins SC, defending, that many of his customers at his car parts business were gardaí.
Gda O’Keefe agreed that Rowe was very remorseful, regretted his involvement in the crime and is at a low risk of reoffending.
The court heard Rowe’s marriage collapsed in the late 1990s and he went from leading a law abiding and “conforming” life to abusing drugs in a serious way.
After his arrest Rowe fled to England and got a job as a night manager in a Holiday Inn in Brighton before “the long arm of the law” caught up with him and he was extradited to Ireland.