Surveillance led gardaí to 'low level mule' as she travelled to collect drugs in Co Laois

Confidential information prompted gardaí to mount surveillance to catch a young woman who drove from Cork to Portlaoise to pick up a €243,000 stash of cocaine and when they stopped her she was ‘panicky, nervous and upset’.

Detective Garda Eoin O’Toole gave this evidence at Cork Circuit Criminal Court today, stating that 32-year-old Ellen Tobin was observed driving her car on the M8 motorway at Riverstown, Glanmire, in August 2025, and she was very anxious when approached by gardaí.

The detective said there was a bag in the footwell of the front passenger seat and it contained the stash of more than three kilos of cocaine. Ms Tobin was in fear and would not identify the person who told her to collect the drugs from an unnamed person in Portlaoise and to bring them back to Cork.

However, she did admit that this was her second such trip to collect drugs to bring them back to Cork. Ms Tobin said she had been paid €400 for that first occasion and given a small amount of cocaine for her own use. 

Det Garda O’Toole said the accused told gardaí she had hoped to be paid a bit more for this second delivery but did not know how much cocaine she was transporting.

Low level drugs mule

Marjorie Farrelly, defence senior counsel, said the young woman, who had no previous convictions of any kind had, in her mid-twenties, become addicted to alcohol and later to cocaine and began to act as “a low level mule”.

In the defendant’s own words, she said: “This led me down a dangerous path and I could not find my way out of it.” 

Ms Farrelly said Ms Tobin had expressed her remorse at every step along the way and was deemed by the probation service to be at a low risk of re-offending. 

Furthermore, there was an extremely favourable governor’s report to the effect that she had been using her time remanded in Limerick Prison very positively.

Judge Sinéad Behan said there were a number of reports and matters to be considered. She remanded Ellen Tobin in continuing custody for sentencing on October 29.

Ellen Tobin of 179 Comeragh Park, The Glen, admitted offences, the most serious of which was possession of drugs for sale or supply at a time when its value exceeded €13,000, the threshold which allows for a minimum sentence of ten years unless there are exceptional circumstances. The case against the defendant relates to the drug detection by gardaí on August 11 2025.