Three jailed over €1.3m heroin seizure

Jessica Magee and Declan Brennan

Two men and a woman "caught red-handed" with over €1.3m worth of heroin and cannabis in a targeted garda operation have been jailed for between three and seven years.

Daniel Eivers (34), Michael Doyle (42) and Sarah Coll (27) all pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of drugs for sale or supply at several locations in Dublin on September 25 and 26, 2012.

Judge Carmel Stewart accepted that all three were at the lower end of the drugs operation and were "cogs in a much bigger machine".

But she said the three had been "caught red-handed" with the drugs and had failed to name others involved in the operation.

She sentenced Eivers, of Glenshane Gardens in Tallaght, to nine years in prison with the final two years suspended.

Doyle, with an address at Valeview Gardens, Finglas, was sentenced to eight years with the final two years suspended.

Coll, also of Valeview Gardens in Finglas, received a sentence of six years with the final three years suspended.

SURVEILLANCE

Detective Garda Brian Foran said gardai involved in a surveillance operation at the Deadman's Pub, Palmerstown, saw Doyle driving a Lexus into the car park.

He said Doyle and Coll got out of the car and went into the pub, followed shortly afterwards by Eivers who arrived in a Ford Focus.

When the two men came out of the pub, Eivers took a sports bag from the Lexus and put it into the Ford Focus.

Gardai moved in, arrested all three and seized the sports bag which was found to contain heroin, which had an estimated value of €683,353.

In a search of Doyle's home, gardai found heroin with an estimated value of €22,800 and cannabis valued at €360. They also found heroin valued at €595,500 at Eiver's home.

They found cannabis resin valued at €28,260 in Coll's Finglas home.

Doyle told gardai he had built up a debt from a long cocaine habit and he was afraid of the man he owed money to.

Eivers told gardai he was bullied into holding drugs because he was seen as a "soft touch".

Detective Foran told Mary Rose Gearty SC, defending Coll, that her client had "turned her life around" and was now volunteering to help others with addictions.

hnews@herald.ie