Cork drugs haul was to have been bagged in shipping container

€63,000 worth of cannabis and cocaine was found in a shipping container at Centre Park Road – specially leased for the weighing, bagging and distribution of drugs in Cork city.

Detective Sergeant Fergal Long said 42-year-old Scott Hughes of Briars Court, Shanakiel, Cork, was caught in this enterprise within two months of his release from prison on another sentence from drug-dealing.

The 42-year-old pleaded guilty to having drugs for sale or supply at New Park, Centre Park Road, Cork, on June 9 2021.

Det Sgt Long said a container on Centre Park Road was the focus of the garda search on the occasion. 

Gardaí went to the container and found the accused man and an accomplice at this location. 

A large quantity of cannabis was found in a cabinet within the container. The accomplice had leased the container in a false name.

Det Sgt Long said the accused was interviewed. “He made full and frank admissions and said his role was to weigh and bag cannabis and cocaine and bring it to customers across Cork city. He was only out of jail since April 2021,” the detective said.

The sentence he completed two months before this crime was detected was for having cocaine and cannabis at his residence.

It was put to the witness at Cork Circuit Criminal Court that the defendant’s accomplice was the main organiser of this enterprise. 

He replied that Mr Hughes was a willing participant in the criminal scheme to prepare drugs for distribution across Cork city.

Defence senior counsel Ray Boland said the accused said he was working off a drugs debt. Det Sgt Long disagreed with that but accepted that the defendant would have been a drug user.

Mr Boland said the accused had addressed his underlying problem with drug use and has been free of drugs for the past 18 months.

Judge James McCourt agreed to a defence application to adjourn sentencing in the case until January 29 2024.

The accomplice was dealt with previously. He was described at his sentencing hearing as being addicted to drugs and owing a large drug debt. 

A sentence of three years was imposed on him with the last six months suspended. 

He was also convicted of a money-laundering offence in relation to €2,310 cash found in his possession in the course of this investigation.