Brazilian men landed at Dublin Airport with cocaine worth €70,000 inside their bodies

Isabel Hayes

Two Brazilian men landed in Dublin Airport with a kilo of ingested cocaine in each of their bodies within a couple of weeks of each other, in separate cases heard in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Felipe Oliviera Gaspar (30), a baker from an unknown address in Brazil, and Valter Soares (26), a street cleaner of no fixed abode in Sao Paolo, Brazil, landed in Dublin Airport last year, each with one kilo of cocaine in their bodies.

Gaspar was found to have swallowed 67 pellets of cocaine and inserted three larger pellets in his rectum, while Soares swallowed 120 pellets of cocaine.

The cocaine retrieved from Gaspar's body had a street value of just under €70,000, while Soares' cocaine was worth €71,000, the court heard.

Gaspar pleaded guilty to one count of possessing cocaine for sale or supply and one count of importing drugs into the country at Dublin Airport on August 28th last year. He has no previous convictions.

Gaspar was stopped by customs officials, arrested and taken immediately to hospital, where he spent eight days receiving treatment. Fergal Foley BL, prosecuting, told the court that had one of the pellets burst, it could have been fatal.

When interviewed by gardaí, Gaspar said he had carried out similar drug runs on four previous occasions. He said he was in debt to loan sharks and agreed to smuggle the drugs to help pay off this debt.

Defence counsel noted Gaspar had put his life at risk to smuggle the drugs into the country, that he had little to gain from it and had expressed remorse. He has limited English and no connection to Ireland.

Judge Martin Nolan said it was an aggravating factor that Gaspar had admitted to carrying out similar drug runs. He sentenced him to two years and nine months in prison, backdated to when he went into custody last year.

Soares pleaded guilty to one count of drug importation at Dublin Airport on September 8th last year, 12 days after Gaspar. He said he was paying off a debt and was in fear of the criminal gang he owed money to, who he said had murdered his brother.

The court heard he was arrested after he was seen acting suspiciously at the airport. He made full admissions to gardaí and has no previous convictions.

Defence counsel said Soares was earning minimum wage as a street cleaner and was struggling to make ends meet. He was also supporting the widow of his late brother, the court heard.

Judge Nolan handed down a sentence of two years and three months to Soares, which was also backdated to when he went into custody.