A 64-year-old man has been jailed for ten years after drugs worth an estimated €37,000 were recovered in Cork last year.
John Heaphy, with an address at Kerryhall Road, Fairhill, Cork, pleaded guilty to having heroin at Halfway, Crossroads, Rathduff, Co Cork, on 15 February 2014.
He was described by Judge Sean Ó Donnabháin at Cork Circuit Criminal Court as a "lifelong criminal in the drugs trade."
Heaphy also pleaded guilty to the burning of cars in residential areas of Fairhill in May 2014.
Judge Ó Donnabháin imposed two years for the arson attacks, consecutive to the ten years, but he suspended those two years.
This was the second time Heaphy was caught with drugs when its street value exceeded €13,000.
This offence carries a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years unless there are special circumstances.
Heaphy had served six years for his first conviction of that kind and was out less than 12 months when he committed the second offence.
