A Dublin man caught moving over €560,000 worth of an illegal synthetic type of cannabis sold in head shops has been sentenced for eight years, with the final three suspended.
Anthony Murphy, 42, of Galtymore Road, Drimnagh pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possessing drugs for sale or supply at Carnlough Road in Cabra on 6 February 2011.
The court heard that the drug in question had been made illegal nine months previously, in May 2010.
Detective Garda Damian O'Farrell told Vincent Heneghan BL, prosecuting, that gardaí had been tipped off about a suspected movement of cannabis in the Cabra area on the night in question.
He said gardaí saw Murphy loading boxes from the driveway of a house on the Carnlough Road into a van at about 9pm.
Murphy was arrested shortly afterwards while walking alongside the van.
The boxes were seized and the contents analysed by forensic experts.
They were found to contain a quantity of a synthetic cannabis substance with a market value of €562,633, had it been sold in head shops.
