Spanish man 'under pressure of a drugs debt' caught drug dealing in West Cork

A SPANISH man who was caught drug dealing in Castletownbere was described as a vulnerable youth who was taken advantage of by a Cork city gang to transport drugs into West Cork.

Antonio Nicolas Orovio Munoz, aged 19, faced sentencing for counts of having four different drugs for sale or supply and having a small amount of magic mushrooms for personal use.

Detective Garda Shannon Ryan said a warrant was obtained to search the young man’s home at Castletownbere, Co Cork, on March 31, 2023.

Stashes of drugs were found in his bedroom, the court heard. The man was present and he was co-operative in pointing out all of the drugs that were there. Follow-up forensic analysis established the street values for the four drug types that he had for the purpose of sale or supply: €7,400 worth of cocaine; €2,200 of cannabis resin; €3,000 of cannabis herb; and €1,100 of MDMA (ecstasy).

He also had a small amount of magic mushrooms for his own use, valued around €30.

Detective Garda Ryan said: “He freely admitted selling controlled drugs for unnamed persons in Cork city. He is a Spanish national living in West Cork for the last five or six years. He was a self-confessed cannabis user and fell in with a Cork city gang.”

Prosecution barrister Brendan Kelly suggested that the accused was vulnerable and taken advantage of by this gang.

Peter O’Flynn, defence barrister, said: “He was using cannabis from a very young age, even before he came to Ireland. He stopped for a while. Between [the] age of 16 and 17, he was taken advantage of, sent back down to West Cork [from the city] and given contacts. He is now back in full-time employment in Castletownbere. He has distanced himself from those he was involved with.

“He is a young man from an extremely dysfunctional background. He was homeless in Madrid from a very young age. He was exposed to criminal activities in childhood. He has anxiety issues from the past. He was taken advantage of. He knew what he was doing, but he found it difficult to get out of the situation he was in.”

Judge Jonathan Dunphy imposed a sentence of two years, and suspended it. The judge said: “The total value of the drugs was in excess of €13,000. The value of the drugs is of serious concern.

“In mitigation, there are his admissions to gardaí, his guilty plea, the fact that he was only 18 at the time, and was operating under pressure of a drugs debt and otherwise has a good work history.”