Man appears in court over €1.9 million drug seizure

By Cillian Sherlock, Press Association

An IT technician accused of being a drug courier for an organised crime gang has appeared in a Dublin court charged in connection with the seizure of drugs worth almost €2 million

David Royle, aged 62, with an address on Crumlin Road, Dublin, was charged with three counts of possession of drugs for sale and supply and three counts of possession of drugs.

He appeared before Judge Stephanie Coggins at Dublin District Court on Monday.

Giving evidence, Garda Stephen Byrne said the Dublin Crime Response Team had observed and intercepted Royle and a co-accused while carrying out a handover of controlled drugs near a shop on Waterville Road, Blanchardstown, on Friday.

He alleged that the co-accused had been observed taking a Smyths shopping bag out of his car and placing it in the boot of Royle’s vehicle after they had parked beside each other and interacted.

Garda Byrne said gardaí then intercepted the vehicles and the shopping bag contained 18 kilogrammes of cocaine.

He said a follow-up address at Royle’s home uncovered four kilogrammes of suspected cannabis and approximately 5,000 MDMA or ecstasy tablets.

He put the value of the cocaine at €1.8 million, or €100 per gram, while the cannabis and MDMA were valued at approximately €56,000 and €50,000 respectively – for a total of €1,906,000.

Patrick Flynn BL, for the accused, asked the garda if the price of cocaine had gone up.

The garda told the court that the value had gone up from 70 euro per gram.

Garda Byrne said Mr Royle had been interviewed several times and made admissions relating to his involvement in sale and supply of controlled substances.

He said the accused was not remorseful in his actions and said that if he knew how much cocaine was in the shopping bag he would have requested more money and said: “I’m not sorry I did it, I’m sorry I got caught.”

The garda also alleged that the accused made an admission to being a courier who was paid 200-300 euro per kilogramme.

Garda Byrne said it was his belief Mr Royle was due to distribute the controlled substances to drug dealers in the State.

He further said it was his opinion the accused was “a trusted member of an organised crime gang involved in large-scale distribution of controlled drugs in the Dublin metropolitan region”.

Mr Flynn said his client had no recollection of saying particular phrases quoted in court and that video interviews were not available to the sitting.

He said his client enjoyed the presumption of innocence in favour of bail and that the prosecution had to prove the case.

He also said that the value of the drugs may come down when it had all been tested.

Flynn told the court his client had said he got involved in this at a time he was sleeping rough and was homeless, and did not expect the large quantity involved.

He said Mr Royle had one adult daughter and an 11-year-old daughter, in whose life he plays a “very active role”.

He told the court his client worked as an IT technician on around €65,000 per year, but his employment may be impacted by the proceedings.

Judge Coggins remanded him in custody at Cloverhill Prison with consent to bail, with Mr Royle next to be produced on Friday.

His bail conditions would include his own bond of 10,000 euro with a €5,000 cash lodgement, an independent surety of €5,000, to sign on three times per week at Kevin Street Garda Station, to abstain from intoxicating substances, to surrender his passport, to abide by a curfew, and to have no contact with prosecution witnesses.

Mr Royle’s co-accused had yet to appear before a separate court sitting by 2pm.